New World, New Overmind
by Abyssal Angel
Summary: Inspired by East Bridge's 'The Zerg Swarm'. First attempt at writing this story, before ultimately moving on to 'For The Swarm'. Rated M just in case. DISCLAIMER: If you recognize it, I don't own it! I only own myself. I'd like to keep it that way, thanks.
1. Chapter 1

It's not often that you go to bed, only to wake up in a completely unknown place. I hadn't even opened my eyes yet and I can already tell something's wrong. For one, I went to bed last night laying on a nice soft mattress. Now I've got hard rock digging into my back.

What's going on? I keep myself from making any tells that I'm awake just in case. Taking stock of myself, I note that I'm not tied up or anything, nor can I hear anyone. It sounds like I'm alone. Well, if this is a kidnapping, I'm not too impressed with the kidnappers at this point.

Cracking my eyes open slowly, I note that I'm in a dark cave. There's an opening to my left, but nothing to my right. Seems more like a hollowed out den than a cave really. Slowly, I sit up, trying to stay as quiet as possible in case there's anyone outside. If they're my abductees, I would do well to stay quiet.

Tiptoeing, I make my way to the entrance of the hollow and peer outside. No one's around. Nothing but trees. I appear to be in some sort of forest. Now why would someone go to the trouble of transporting me from my apartment in Florida all the way to the middle of nowhere? For that matter, how'd they keep me asleep the entire time?

Stepping out into the sunlight, suddenly a shiver travels down my spine, and then the oddest thing happens. Words scroll across my vision slowly enough to read it.

_Overmind Lvl 1_

_Health 100/100_

_Mana 100/100_

_Abilities:_

_Spawn Hatchery (50 mana) – Grows a Zerg Hatchery at your current location (12 hours)_

_To activate, place hand on the ground and think the words 'spawn hatchery'_

_Mana required for evolution: 500,000_

What… the hell… was that? The words alone were ridiculous enough, but for some reason, I can't shake the feeling that whatever just happened wasn't just my imagination. From the information displayed, I can infer one thing; I'm supposedly an Overmind now.

What a load of bullshit! That doesn't even make sense! I don't look even remotely like some overgrown giant mutant brain the size of a large building!

Still, I can't shake the feeling that what just happened wasn't just my imagination. Well, there's obviously one way to prove it.

Slowly, I bend down to the ground and place my hand on it. Just entertaining the idea that this'll work seems ludicrous, but here it goes.

'Spawn hatchery'.

More words scroll across my vision.

_Not enough room._

Sweatdropping, I stand back up. Evidently I'm going to need to find a clearing or something if I'm going to pull this off. Only one small problem with that. I have no idea where I am, let alone where there might be a clearing around here!

Ok, putting this supposed Overmind business to the side, first things first, I need to get to a vantage point and look around. Maybe I'll spot a town. The hollow I just left is situated in the base of a small mound, but it doesn't even crest the top of the trees.

Sighing, I choose a tree that looks like it might not be too much trouble to climb, and start climbing it. It takes all of my willpower to ignore the height and keep my muscles from freezing.

Making it to the top, I look around. Trees. Nothing but trees all the way around. I really am in the middle of freaking no where! In that case, I need to look towards survival. I spot a river over to my left. I can just barely make it out. I wish I knew truly what direction it lies in, but the sun is directly overhead and I can't remember any other ways to tell direction other than the stars, and even that might not work out too well for me, since I never was very good at astronomy.

More to my interest is the very reason I was able to spot the river in the first place. It winds along the edge of a fairly decent size clearing. A meadow, if I miss my guess. That'll be a convenient place to head towards to test out this summon hatchery thing.

Climbing back down, I walk back into the hollow to double check if there was anything in there that I might find useful. There's nothing. All I have are the clothes on my back. I notice something odd though. The only foot prints in the dirt coating the cave floor are mine. If someone brought me here, they sure went to seriously long lengths to make sure I'd have absolutely no way of hunting them down. I contemplated the idea that they scattered the dirt over the area to mask their footprints, but there aren't any tells for that either. None that I can spot anyway. I'm not Mr. Uber Tracker or anything like that.

Sighing, I head back out and head in the direction I'd noted the river was. I hadn't even gone very far before I could hear it lapping against the sides along the bank. Following the sound, I made it to the river. At this point, I'm thirsty. I don't want to risk catching anything since I can't be certain the river doesn't have anything in it, but I don't exactly have the means to boil the water either.

Praying that I wouldn't get sick, I scooped out a few handfuls, inspecting each one for any floaters as best I could, then drank it till I wasn't thirsty anymore.

Examining the water though, I noted something else very strange. I don't have my glasses, yet I can see clearer than I ever have before. I can literally count the leaves on the tree on the other side of the river if I wanted to. I can't even do that with my glasses!

How is that even possible? Either my kidnappers also went to the trouble of giving my lasek surgery while I was out, which suggested that I'd been put under rather than asleep this whole time… or this Overmind business is a bit more legit than I'd thought. The fact that my Dad got Lasek, so I know you have to be awake to get lasek surgery isn't helping matters.

Putting the matter from my mind for the moment, I turned and followed the river towards the direction where I'd seen the clearing. It didn't take too long to reach. After all the tree I'd climbed wasn't much taller than any of the other trees, so the fact that I could even see the clearing at all meant it'd either be freaking huge, fairly close, or both.

In this case, the clearing is both. If anything I'd underestimated how large I'd thought it would be. You could probably fit a whole block from my old neiborhood here. Should be big enough for a hatchery then.

Walking over to the middle of the clearing, I put my hand on the ground and once again thought the words, 'Spawn Hatchery'.

_Mana 50/100_

At the same time I see these words, I feel something push up against my hand. Startled, I remove it, only to see a tiny version of the sac that forms when you spawn a building in the game where my hand was. I stare at it, dumbfounded.

First off, there's a freaking zerg hatchery growing right there. Second, why the hell did the words say there wasn't enough room before if it's going to be this small? Maybe it'll grow bigger? Finally, THERE'S A FREAKING ZERG HATCHERY GROWING RIGHT THERE!

Ok, ok, calm down. There's a zerg hatchery right there. Let's not panic. After all, I'm the Overmind right? That means that no matter what, these things will follow my lead, so I won't have to worry about being slaughtered by the Swarm. And, since they'll be following my lead, I won't have to worry about them mindlessly slaughtering anything and everything else either, right? Right. I'm the Overmind.

I'm the Overmind. Holy crap, this is ridiculous! I stare again at the pulsating sack of growing Zerg Hatchery. Slowly, I reach out a finger and gently poke it. All at once, I can feel a presence coming from within the sac. It's like I can see it within my mind's eye. It's small, and tiny, and very very fragile, and the feelings I'm getting from it… I can feel nothing but pure love, trust, and adoration flowing from this tiny little being, directed at me, all for me! Holy cow, is this what it's like for a father to see his child looking up at him for the first time? What a heady sensation!

With a feeling of wonder and reverence, I stroke the side of the membrane with my finger, and it leans into my touch. This is amazing! Now that I've, noticed for lack of a better term, it's presence and the feelings it's broadcasting, I can't help but notice it now. It doesn't seem to have any real intelligence like I'd expect a human baby to have. It's more like a baby kitten, just a bundle of pure feelings, instinct, and a drive to please its parent, me.

As I stroke the little thing, objectively I notice that it's not slimy like I expected. It feels more leathery and gummy than anything else, like stretched rubber. As the time passes, I notice that it's gotten slightly bigger, and as more time passes, it seems to be getting slowly but steadily bigger. I can hardly believe it's going to take half a day for the thing to grow. By that time it'll be the middle of the night!

With that thought in mind, I slowly get up. I need to make myself a shelter and get some food. Food first though, since I'm getting hungry. Unfortunately, I haven't seen a single animal at all. Though come to think of it, it hardly matters since I have no way of starting a fire to cook meat anyways, and I'm not about to try and rub two sticks together to get a fire going. I'd be better off foraging for edible plants.

Speaking of which, is that a ripe apple I see just laying on the ground? That's strangely convenient. Looking up, I spy apples growing from the branches of the tree I'm under. Picking up the fallen one, I make my way back over to the river to wash it off. Biting into it, I pull the piece from my mouth and examine it and the flesh of the fruit itself for any bugs. It was just lying on the ground after all. I don't see anything though. Shrugging, I finish the apple off, and make my way back to grab another, washing and inspecting it before eating it as well. I finished off about two more before I finally felt sated. I just hope I can find something else besides apples. Push comes to shove I could probably live off of those for a while, but eating nothing but apples doesn't sound healthy.

Now for a shelter. Where should I build it? Perhaps halfway between the apple tree and the river? It would suck if the banks flooded and washed my shelter away during a rain storm after all. I should build it on the edge of the clearing though just in case the hatchery does get as big as I think it will. My first real problem though is what I'll use to build said shelter. I can't exactly build a log cabin without tools after all, and it's not like I need anything that permanent since I can probably just use the hatchery as a shelter once it's grown.

I guess I'll just try and make a make shift Teepee with long sticks and leaves or something. Too bad I'm not in Florida anymore. Palm fronds are excellent since even dead they're still wide, flat, and easy to use as walling. Considering the dryness of the air here though, I strongly doubt I'm anywhere near Florida anymore.

Going out into the forest, I break off many sticks and start to fashion myself a teepee, making sure to clear the sticks of the leaves first, though leaving some of the smaller branches jutting out, hoping to use them to sort of weave the walls together. Surprisingly it worked. With the frame set up, I start pulling down branches and leaving the leaves on. By the time I've finished, my shelter looks more like an igloo made of leaves than a teepee, but with the sticks jammed into the ground, it should be able to stand up to most winds.

By this point, the sun is just about to set, and the hatchery had increased in size to that of a two story house. I'm hungry again, so I pick some apples to eat and drink some more from the river, which I'd been doing a lot of to make sure I don't dehydrate. I may be the Overmind, but the fact that I can still get hungry proves I can still die from thirst if I'm not careful, and working under that hot sun was NOT enjoyable.

With the sun setting and finally full, I pull up the branch full of leaves I'm using as a makeshift door and enter my shelter. I don't have anything in the shelter itself, especially not bedding. I don't fancy the idea of having bugs crawling from the leaves onto me that I might use. The best I can do is pile up a mound of dirt for a pillow with firm thoughts of dunking my head in the river to wash it off tommorrow. Tommorrow… at that point the Hatchery'll be finished, and then I can sleep in there. I just hope it'll be as dry as the sac covering it is. I don't want to sleep in anything slimy.

With that thought, and after the long and hard day I'd had, I drift off to sleep.

-END CHAPTER-

Overmind mana – 50/100

Units:

1 Overmind

Structures:

1 Half grown Hatchery


	2. Chapter 2

I'm having a nightmare. This has to be a nightmare. During the night, a noise woke me up. The noise was a long loud moan, like someone clearing their throat of congestion and not doing a very good job of it. I sat up, shivering, wondering what the hell was that and why it sounded so familiar, when I heard it again, accompanied by the shuffling and dragging of feet outside.

I froze. There's no way in hell this can be possible. Starcraft somehow existing through me is one thing, but THIS?

You see, I actually recognized the sound of that Zombie moan. Yes, I recognized it. How the hell does one recognize the moan of a freaking zombie, you ask? By hearing sounds just like it millions of times before, which I have. Another sound cinches it for me. It sounded like a chink, like bones smacking together. That's another sound you'd hear from where I'd heard the same Zombie noise before, from MINECRAFT!

What the HELL!? Zombies and Skeleton archers from freaking Minecraft are outside my shelter!? I'm only lucky I haven't heard any spiders or creepers yet. So long as I stay in the shelter I should be fine, since most all mobs are fairly stupid. Heck, they won't even notice you if you look at them through glass! I pray spiders don't show up though. I don't think my shelter could survive one of them climbing on it.

Turning in the direction of the Hatchery, I wonder if it's finished yet. The feelings I'm getting from it don't really indicate it is, though I seriously doubt I'm any real judge of that. I wonder if I asked it, would it answer? Taking a shot in the dark, I focus on the feeling of the hatchery and mentally ask, 'Hatchery, are you finished yet?' I don't get any definitive answer, not that I was really expecting any, just a vague feeling that I could only translate as the word 'soon.' I can hear it though. It seems to be making gurgling noises, like you hear when you select one of the buildings in the game. At least in game though, you'd be able to see a progress bar or something!

For the moment though, I'm stuck. I don't dare peak out at the monsters, in case there not being a 'block' in the way lets them detect me. I'm scared stiff though. I don't dare make a noise in case they can hear me. They might not have detected Steve when he made noises in his shelter, but that was just a game. This is real life, so who knows what rules may have gone out the window. I can only count my blessings and thank God for the fact that they haven't found me yet.

I couldn't tell you how long I sat there listening to the zombies moaning and the skeletons clinking. It might've been minutes. It might've been hours. Finally though, I heard the sound of my salvation. With a recognizable splattering noise, the hatchery hatched. I'm only sorry I missed seeing its birth. I've grown rather fond of that little hatchery after all. More words scroll across my vision.

_Zerg mana – 0/1,000,000_

_Supply – 0/10_

Well that's great to know. Now what?

Suddenly I hear the popping noise of a skeleton firing a bow, and the sound of the Zombies shuffling off. I was afraid at first they'd suddenly spotted me, but now I'm worried that they're after the hatchery. Hearing nothing nearby, I take a risk and peak out between the leaves towards the hatchery.

I can't see the hatchery very well in the dark, but I can tell that the thing is really big. It's about five stories tall, but the spikes connected to it at each of the corners raise it's height to more like ten stories. I can't see much more than that. The hatchery is still making that gurgling noise, but this time some information comes with it. It's more like a command list of sorts as well as the stats of the building. It doesn't scroll across my vision this time. It's more like it just pops in my head.

According to the hatchery, I can select the larvae it spawns through it, set up a separate rally point for both workers and everything else, have it open and close its entrances, which it evidently does automatically upon threat detection, and I can tap it to have it refill my mana reserves from the Zerg mana pool. That last one I think is more literal though since it directs that I have to touch a literal Zerg Mana Pool within the Hatchery itself.

The Hatchery itself isn't being attacked though. Evidently the Zombies and Skeletons are after the Larvae and are ignoring the Hatchery itself. The Larvae feel similar to the way the Hatchery did when it was just growing. This makes the fact that the zombies and skeletons are attacking them all but unbearable. Only the fact that there's literally nothing I can do to help and that their attacks aren't doing a thing to the larvae stop me. I'd expect arrows and zombies trying to grab and bite would hurt me, but to a larvae covered in hard chitinous armor that literally takes a hail of armor piercing slugs traveling at subsonic speeds to pierce it, they might as well be playing catch and tag with the things.

Considering this, I contemplate making a break for it and running for the entrance to the Hatchery. All things considered though, I can probably just wait till the sun rises and flash fries the skeletons and zombies.

Making a few more cracks in the leaves to glance around, I spot a few spiders in the trees on the edge of the clearing. They're far enough away not to be a bother though. They seem content to stay there. What I'm truly worried about are Creepers. Thankfully I don't see any, but with the larvae out like that, I can't help but worry they'll be attracted. Arrows and bites, a larvae can ignore. Explosions are an entirely different story. I wish I could command the larvae to go back into the Hatchery, but no amount of mentally ordering them to do so is affecting them. You could sooner command a baby kitten to go fetch a frisbee. For the first time, I lament the literal innocence of these creatures. At least most of the rest of the Zerg can burrow! The only things these larvae understand are orders to grow into something, and so far the only things available to spawn are Drones and Overlords, costing 50 and 100 mana respectively, one taking up one unit of supply, the other giving five more.

That brings me to wonder how I'm going to go about collecting mana. How does one collect mana anyway? I have enough mana myself to create a drone, so I tried to do just that. Unfortunately nothing happened. The Hatchery may be able to give me mana, but I don't think it works the other way around. You'd think being the Overmind would allow me to order it to improvise a little, but thinking about it, I come to realize that's not the way the Zerg work. You can't order a being without intelligence to think for itself. The Overmind does the thinking for the Zerg, not the other way around. Well, ok that's not exactly true. In Starcraft, there were the Cerebrates, Infested Kerrigan, and supposedly the Broodmothers from the upcoming game that are Zerg that think for themselves. Still though, they obey the Overmind without question, or the Cerbrates do anyway. Kerrigan did as well while the Overmind was still alive, but I don't think I want to test that. I wouldn't know how to go about creating an infested ghost anyways, or a cerebrate or Brood Mother for that matter either.

Still though, the rest of the Zerg don't have that intelligence. They're bred to obey the Overmind completely, and since the Cerebrates and the others are delegated the work of the Overmind, the Zerg obey them as if they were the Overmind, which they essentially were.

A sudden noise sends a spike of fear up my spine. It sounded like a vworp noise. That can only mean one thing. An Enderman is nearby. My only hope is to make sure I don't look at it, and pray it doesn't like a chunk of my shelter and decide to steal it.

Murphy's Law must've just cursed me right there. As soon as I thought it, a part of the shelter to my right gets ripped out, causing the entire thing to shudder and collapse on top of me. Flinging my arms to protect my head, I collapse under the branches. Luckily it was only just branches and leaves, or I'd be far worse off. Groaning, I sit up, and carefully look around. Thankfully the Enderman seems to be gone, but a Zombie is headed straight for me!

Pushing myself up, I take off like a bat out of hell towards the Hatchery, making for the far side away from the other Zombies and Skeletons swarming the larvae. I don't think I've ever run this fast before in my life. Belatedly, I realized that the Creep had literally grown right under my feet without my even noticing. All Zerg are faster on the creep, I remembered. Thankful for this small seemingly insignificant fact, I bum rushed the Hatchery, commanding the side entrance to open, and then close after I burst in.

Gasping from running like that, I stretch up and tilt my head back to make it easier to breathe. After a moment, my heart rate slows back down and I catch my breath. Opening my eyes, I look around.

The first thing I noticed is the pool. The Zerg Mana Pool, if my guess is correct. A soft whitish light is coming off of it, lighting up the room. It's not all that big. Curious, I touch it. It feels just like water. Curious, I scoop a little, and remembering the steps to test something to see if it's edible, I push my closed lips against it. It feels cool. No burning or anything unusual. Opening my mouth, I lap a little on my tongue. It tastes like water. Best water I've ever tasted actually. Nothing bad about it at all. Sucking up some of it in my mouth, I swish it around. No bad taste, no burning or unusual sensation. Nothing. Swallowing a bit, I wait for a moment to see if my stomach reacts badly. It doesn't.

Grinning, I bend down and dip my face into the pool, greedily sucking up the 'water' within. It quenches my thirst nicely. I felt like I must've drunk half the pool, but it's levels hadn't dropped at all. I've a feeling it's self replenishing. Sitting up, I take in the rest of the interior of the Hatchery. There's not much worth noting. The room is spherical in shape, much like a teepee, except it has four branching tunnels that are closed off. I suspect those are the closed entrances, one of which I'd come in from. The ceiling slopes upward in a high dome shape, and the walls ceiling are both moving gently, kind of like what I might expect from breathing if I were to be hiding inside of a lung.

I idly brush my hand against the wall. The texture is slightly different, but it feels similar to the feeling of touching my gums, only with no wetness. The wall quivers where I touch, and the Hatchery seems to emenate pleasure from the feeling of where I touched it. Interesting. Quirking my lip, I sit down, leaning against the wall and brush my hand along the floor. It feels the same as the walls, and if I didn't know any better, I'd swear the Hatchery was purring!

It seems the excitement of the day is finally ending. What with the light in here, I won't have to worry about any monsters spawning in here. At least I hope not. The light isn't all that bright. Hopefully that won't matter though. You could sleep in a dark cave in Minecraft so long as you were walled in and not be bothered by mobs.

Seriously though, why Minecraft? How? This isn't the kind of thing you would find on Earth, even if it's just an isolated area! All day, something had been bothering me about this place and I finally realized what it was. A normal forest would be teeming with animals. The sound of birds of squirrels alone would fill the air, then at night there would be a literal cacophony of chirping from crickets and grasshoppers.

This forest though, this forest has been completely silent. No birds, no squirrels, no animals at all. And when night fell that silence just stretched on. The lack of sound had been bothering me all day and I'd only just really noticed it. Unfortunately this clinched it for me. No forest on Earth would be so utterly silent. You couldn't pull that off outdoors. It's just not possible.

The only viable explanation left then is…

I'm not on Earth anymore.

I'm in a Minecraft world.

Will I ever see Earth again? The Zerg are a space faring race. Maybe someday I will. More importantly, just how did I get here? Considering the evidence, you'd think I'd just popped up out of nowhere… which is exactly what happens to Steve in Minecraft when a new world is spawned. Crap, that makes more sense than I'd like…

At this point the adrenaline I'd been running on crashed, and with it being so late, I finally fell asleep.

-END CHAPTER-

Overmind mana – 50/100

Zerg Swarm Mana – 0/1,000,000

Zerg Supply – 0/10

Units:

1 Overmind

Structures:

1 Hatchery


	3. Chapter 3

Sunlight is streaming into my eyes. Blinking blearily, I woke up fully. The first thing I noticed is that all four entrances to the Hatchery are sitting wide open. Considering I'm on a Minecraft world, I don't find that very reassuring. My only solace is that the Hatchery wouldn't be sitting wide open unless there weren't any mobs around.

Getting up and glancing outside confirmed the lack of mobs. The pile of branches where my shelter used to be are sitting on top of the sprawling mass of creep stretching out everywhere. It looks like a mass of purple bubble gum stretched over the ground. It's kind of springy to walk on, kind of like those tracks they make for running that are like asphalt yet spongy. No wonder Zerg run faster on this if this is what it's like.

Interestingly, unlike what the game lead me to believe, the creep is not poisoning the local plant life. According to the game, creep is poisonous to soil and just about anything else that isn't Zerg. Well, my eyes tell me different. The trees, if anything, look more vibrant and green than before, alive and thriving. It's also having an interesting effect on the apple tree I ate at yesterday. Apples are growing and falling off, leaving a literal mound of apples sitting underneath the tree. Grabbing one, I ate it. It had to be the juiciest, sweetest, and most delicious apple I've ever tasted. Grabbing a bunch, I brought them back to the Hatchery, and ate my fill. That still left me a bunch left over.

On a whim, I took an apple by the stem and dipped it into the pool. The apple disappeared before my very eyes, almost like an instantaneous acid. Surprised, I dropped the stem, which also dissolved into the pool. Wary, I tested the water the same as I did yesterday with the same results. It still tastes like the purest water I've ever had. As far as I can tell, it didn't do anything, so why did the apple disappear? Oh well, at least it makes for a convenient garbage disposal. I'd rather not think of my best water source as a garbage disposal considering I drink out of it though.

Despite feeling odd about it, I chucked the rest of my apples and apple rinds into the pool. Each and every one of them disappeared, without effect. I spent a good chunk of the day testing this phenomenon out on different things. Leaves, sticks, water from the river, grass, dirt. Everything dissolved into the pool. How odd!

Other than this, there really wasn't much to do. I stripped and bathed in the river. I explored to the edges of the creep. Interestingly, the creep didn't cover the top of the water in the river, instead it covered the bottom of the river bed. The creep stretches quite far though. If I had to guess, I'd say the diameter of it all is roughly a mile. One square mile of creep for a single Hatchery. That sounds fairly convenient. Of course, I'm only guessing.

After a day of randomly gathering things to throw in the pool and exploring, I went back into the Hatchery at sundown to sleep. As soon as the light from the sunset had gone, the Hatchery sealed itself shut. I guess the mobs are back. I'm extremely grateful that I can't hear them from within the Hatchery though. That would be really bothersome. Closing my eyes, I went to sleep.

The next morning brought the same thing as yesterday with one small difference.

_Zerg Mana – 635_

What in the world? Where'd the mana come from? Maybe it came from my gathering stuff and chucking it in the pool? To test this, I didn't gather anything. When I drank from the pool this time though, I felt a flood of energy fill me, and more words passed across my eyesight.

_Overmind Mana – 100/100_

_Zerg Mana – 585_

Huh. So that's how I get energy from the Hatchery that was stated in that command list thing. Good to know I guess. If I want to make any more Hatchery's myself that is. I spent the day doing much the same as yesterday, though I did contemplate creating an Overlord to get a look around. Just in case, I won't until I've figured out if all that mana came from gathering or something else.

The next day, I woke up but the Hatchery still had its doors closed. Cautiously, I commanded one to open up and peered outside. A CREEPER! Panicking, I had the Hatchery shut closed again. Nothing else happened. In this lull, words appeared across my vision.

_Zerg Mana – 1085_

So I only get 500 mana this time? Maybe the gathering increased it to 635 last time, which makes sense since I didn't actually gather all that much, but if that's the case, then where did the other 500 come from? With no ready answer, I turn towards the more immediate problem: The creeper. Those things are pretty single minded, so it's probably still sitting outside the hatchery door waiting for it to open. I wonder if a larvae might distract it from blowing me up? Larvae don't react to commands to move though. I already tried that. I really need some way to be able to see out there!

An Overlord might do nicely for that though. Sending out the command, a larvae starts spawning into an Overlord. Five minutes later, and I've got one Overlord. Unlike the hatchery and larvae, this creature seems to have some intelligence. It responds to my commands well enough, and it has its command list like the others, mainly stop, move, patrol, pick up units, and deploy units. It doesn't have the ability to spew out creep like in Starcraft 2 though.

While exploring its commands, I accidently, er, push my mind forward to much? I don't really know how to describe what I just did. All I know is that I'm now seeing out of the eyes of the Overlord, and I can move it as if it's my own body. This is weird as all hell! Even more confusing it that it seems to have 360 degree vision. Considering I'm used to a little less than 180 vision, this is extremely disorienting at first. Testing different things, I finally figure out how to control my movement, though I'll be darned if I can describe how it's moving. Physically, there's something inside this Overlord that is somehow pushing and pulling the body in different directions, giving it the ability to hover at will as well as move anywhere it wants.

Floating upwards, I take a good look around. Forest as far as the eye can see. The river snakes on into the distance. The only way a Minecraft world would have areas as big as this in game is if you selected the option, Large Biomes. This is real life though, I think anyway, so I don't know if that's the case here or not.

Somehow I instinctively pull back to my body, having enough of being an Overlord. Only now I have something new. I can still feel the presence of the Overlord, just like the Hatchery and the larvae, only along with feeling the Overlord, I can still mentally see what it sees. So now in my mind's eye, I have the equivalent of the top down view from the Starcraft game, only it's from the point of the Overlord. That's useful.

Actually considering now I've got an Overlord, shouldn't my supply have-

_Zerg Supply – 0/15_

What the hell? NOW it tells me that? I figured that info would come to me at real time, not when I'm good and ready for it! Or maybe I can see it just from asking? 'I want to see my health'. Nothing. Maybe since I know already that I haven't been hurt, so it's still bound to be 100/100, that means the words won't inform me since I already know that? Weird. So working under that assumption, those words'll only flash across my eyes when I need to know something, but only if I don't know it yet, and only if it's something that it can inform me about, like mana or supply.

That's just an assumption anyway. Might as well go with it until something happens that proves it wrong.

Stepping outside, I look up at the Overlord floating up in the clouds. Seeing it that high made me feel dizzy. I'm naturally afraid of heights, so why wasn't I afraid when I was mentally the Overlord itself? I can't think of any definite answer to that, though it is possible that something about only mentally being in the Overlord cancels out the fear, or maybe knowing that I have complete control of the ability to fly negates the fear? That would suggest I only have a fear of falling, not heights itself though. I'd often thought that might be the case, since I have no problem in airplanes or rollercoasters. I'm only scared when all that stands between me and going splat on the ground is myself, and last I checked I don't have some unknown organ in my body that lets me control gravity at my whim.

Looking back down and waiting a moment for the vertigo to abate, I look over at the larvae. Well, at 500 mana a day, I guess it's time to get cracking at getting some drones to gather up stuff. The more mana the better, and since my end goal at the moment is to get back home, I need to become space faring as soon as possible.

Space. Now that I think about it, the idea of going to space is pretty exhilarating. Heck, now that I think back on it, just flying as the Overlord was extremely fun! It'd be more fun if I could fly on my own though. One of my alters has wings for practically that very reason after all. Heck, all of my alters have some form of flight now that I think on it.

That brings up an interesting thought though. With me being on a Minecraft world, and commanding the Zerg from Starcraft, it doesn't seem so far fetched that maybe I'll find Haven someday. That seems like a much more worthy goal to pursue than finding Earth, though I'd still like to find Earth if I can.

My goals set, I commanded the larvae to transform into drones. Once they'd spawned, I commanded them to begin gathering the trees that don't produce apples. At 50 a piece, I bought as many drones as I could. I originally had 1085 mana today. The overlord dropped it to 985. With 15 Drones spawned reaching my supply limit, that brings me down to 235 mana.

At this point I wonder if I should pop out another Overlord and get two more drones, or have one of the drones bring in a building or something? Checking their command list, the only things they can build at the moment are Hatcheries at 400 mana, Extractors at 100 mana, and spawning pools at 150 mana. I don't see the point of getting an extractor though. There wouldn't be any vespene geysers on a Minecraft world. For that matter, why would Vespene gas be so prevalent in that entire section of space that the Zerg would become dependant on it as a resource? Not every planet is going to have vespene after all. Then again, not every planet is going to have those weird crystaline structures that all the races gathered as a resource. I can only pray that I keep getting at least 500 mana every day, along with extra from whatever I gather, or else I'm going to be stuck. Unless diamonds could substitute as those crystals here? An interesting thought.

Back to the point though, should I grab a spawning pool and pump out some Zerglings? I don't know if I'll need to do that though, since I've already checked and the drones do have the burrow ability in their checklist. And besides, it doesn't seem like anything on this planet can harm the Zerg, other than the creepers.

Speaking of which, I winced as I became aware of one of my drones dying a violent death from a creeper exploding. Sighing, I create another drone and send it off to gather. Keeping an eye on my mental map provided via Overlord, I spent much of the rest of the day micromanaging the drones to keep them from getting blown up by creepers.

Now that I'm down to 185 mana, I figure I'll just get another Overlord in the sky and another drone out. That done, I'm now sitting at 35 mana. Not much, but hopefully with all this gathering going on, watching as drone after drone comes in and drops off a tree into the pool, watching it simply disappear, I'd soon have far more tomorrow.

I set one of the drones to gathering apples as well, though this doesn't work out nearly as well considering the drones are suited to picking up far larger things. On a whim, I command the Overlord to gather up the apples. It does so with its many tendrils and joins the long line of gatherers dropping stuff off at the pool, though the entrance stretching to accommodate the Overlord entering the Hatchery looks extremely awkward.

With two Overlords available, my mental map had doubled in size, or at least it did theoretically. Since one of them is set to gathering apples, it'd be more accurate to say that my mental map keeps increasing and decreasing weirdly. I'm starting to get used to it though, and find it extremely handy, considering I've avoided getting any of my other drones killed by creepers so far. Thankfully the spiders aren't a threat, even if they were only aggro in the dark, so some of my drones have racked up a few kills getting rid of them. I don't hold any hope for it mattering though. Monsters will spawn so long as there's darkness to spawn in. At least that's how it works in the game. With the Overlords out, I'll be able to see directly if that holds true or not.

When night falls, I order my drones into the Hatchery where they burrow. They're kinda creepy looking. Like tailless scorpions with two claw like mandibles, and hundreds of tiny legs, giving it the illusion of gliding everywhere. The two fins on it's back give it a vague bowl like shape on its back, which is what it'd been using to drag everything to and fro all day. It's hard to be afraid of them though. Just like the rest, they're like overeager puppies. Extremely affectionate, absolutely eager to please, and willing to go to any lengths to follow your every order, it's hard to dislike any of the Zerg when you can feel such things from them. If anything, I'm in seventh heaven, being the recipient of such amounts of good will and love and devotion. If anything, I want more of it! Another reason to expand the swarm if for nothing else. I just have to keep in mind the Zerg may feel this way for me no matter what I do, but that doesn't give me the right to callously disregard anything that isn't Zerg. In a way, I'm lucky I grew up human. The Overmind grew up to this. In this way, I can understand a bit where the Overmind was coming from. If this kind of unity and happiness is what you get for bringing more into the Zerg Swarm, you would naturally do everything in your power to bring anything and everything into this. It'd be doing all creation a favor to let them feel this kind of belonging!

Of course, I grew up human though. I understand free will above all else, and I wouldn't have it any other way for any creature, inspite of what I can offer them. Animals are one thing, but sentient life will be left alone and only offered the option to join the swarm. Just because I have a seemingly better option doesn't give the right to shove it down other's throats. I'm not some crappy religion after all. This is a way of life. Religion shouldn't be a way of life anyway. Religion has a higher purpose than that.

Speaking of which, I have to wonder what's going on for me at that front. I'm, hopefully, still a son of God, but I'm the Overmind now, and the Overmind is immortal. Does that mean I'm stuck from rising to Godhood with the rest of my brothers and sisters and rejoining Heavenly Father? This thought almost had me going into a depression, until a random thought had me remembering the story of the three Nephites. They're immortal too, but they'll still become Gods like they're Heavenly Father. Smiling at this in relief, I send a prayer of thanks for this bit of good will, and not soon after I fell asleep.

-END CHAPTER-

Overmind mana – 100/100

Zerg Swarm Mana – 0/1,000,000

Zerg Supply – 15/20

Units:

1 Overmind

2 Overlords

15 Drones

Structures:

1 Hatchery


	4. Chapter 4

The next day I woke up, the Hatchery doors were open and my mental map confirmed no enemies nearby. A new day has begun.

_Zerg Mana – 1255_

Wow. Having those drones and the overlord doing all that gathering really paid off. Getting up and stretching, I got a drink and ate some apples. I'm starting to get a little tired of apples, but I haven't really any idea what else to do. It's a little difficult to grow grain on the creep. The only reason the trees are thriving are because they were already there when the creep had grown, and once the trees were knocked down, leaving only the apple trees standing, the creep grew over where the trees had been, making it impossible to grow anymore.

I had to wonder if at this rate, if I covered the whole planet, if there wouldn't be enough trees to provide enough oxygen for the animals to grow? In that case, I probably should only knock down enough trees to give me the space to spawn more buildings, and thanks to yesterdays efforts, I have more than enough space, even with the apple trees still standing sparse here and there. That considered, I set the drones to only gathering apples and other loose fallen stuff for now. Maybe I'll figure out something to do with them later.

Ordering one of the drones to the side, I order it to mutate a spawning pool, then go for a swim in the river. Six hours later, and I have my spawning pool. It's not that disimilar from a public pool really. Just replace the water with some kind of greenish goop and make the walls of the pool and the walkway surrounding it Zerg Flesh. At this point, I'm bored as all hell. I think the drones are capable of learning since they're avoiding the Creepers on their own now. Either that or the Overlords are directing them to do so. Either way, I've just spent six hours waiting around for a building to spawn.

Thanks to my boredom, I did something that in hindsight was pretty foolish. I leapt into the Spawning pool. I got some of it in my mouth when I surfaced. The stuff is rather warm and goopy, and it makes interesting swirls when I put my finger in it. Swimming to the edge, I made the amusing discovery that even a Zerg spawning pool has a shallow and deep end, though I'm guessing the deep end is in the middle and the shallow end is on the sides. I'm glad I didn't bust my legs if I'd jumped in closer to the edge of the pool. Further in hindsight though, I realized what I'd just done could've had some bad consequences. For all I knew, this goop could've disolved me into my base components, turning me into primordial soup. For all I know, this IS the Zerg equivalent of Primordial soup. Despite this, it feels kind of fun to swim in. I can't help but wonder if this is signs of me becoming more Zerg like… or if I'm really just that bored.

With a thought, I brought up the larvae to spawn some zerglings, only to grind to a halt. Since I go through the hatchery to acess the larvae, I noticed a new command for the hatchery before I even reached the larvae. The Hatchery can spawn Queens now. The ground based ones from Starcraft 2. The ones that are pretty much Broodmothers, just not as advanced. Up to this point, everything had been following the Starcraft 1 tech tree, so to suddenly have something that is blatently from Starcraft 2 is a bit of a surprise.

According to the Hatchery, the Queen will take twenty minutes to spawn, and costs 200 mana. It also takes up 2 supply.

_Zerg supply 15/20_

Yeah that's right. Since I ordered that extra drone to create the spawning pool, I'm down to 15 drones again. The fact that it takes up two supply though… after creating fifteen drones the other day, from the feeling of having them all along with those Overlords, it felt like my mind was getting heavy. After creating the extra Overlord and drone, the presence became lighter, giving me the impression that Zerg supply is more specifically mental space. My mental space. The Overlords just give me more to work with I guess, since they're kind of like floating brains, even if most of their body is hollowed out space. Speaking of which, why didn't I just pack away the drones and myself into the Overlords last night? That probably would've been safer.

Back to my point though, if the Queens TAKE UP mental space, but don't GIVE any, then that probably means they'll be just as mindless as the rest of the Zerg. Of course, this is just a hypothesis, and a bad one at that, since the Overlords also give mental space, but are as much like animals as the rest of the Zerg Swarm so far. Only one way to find out I guess.

Commanding the hatchery to grow me a queen, I continue on to the larvae and have them pump out a half dozen Zerglings for me. That fills up the rest of my supply quota for the moment, so I'll spend the rest of my mana on pumping out Overlords. With each pair of Zerglings only costing 25 mana, being one point of supply for two of the little things, they're the size of large dogs, and the queen costing 200, that's 375 spent right there, bringing my total mana to 880. That's 8 Overlords and six more Zerglings.

_Zerg Mana – 80_

_Zerg Supply – 23/60_

Yup, that's it. No longer needing to do the math now, I sat back and swam lazily in the pool. I really don't get why I feel comfortable like this, but I'm just going with it. I discovered something seriously cool about the pool though. When I flipped over on my back to float, even if I didn't hold my breath I wouldn't sink. This made lying in the pool almost ridiculously comfortable. I wonder if this is what it's like to float out in space? Maybe some day I'll find out.

Feeling too comfortable to really be bored, I spent the rest of the day floating there. I commanded the one overlord to float above me for shade so I don't get sunburned, though after floating in the river for the first six hours of the day without so much as a tan, I'm starting to think that since sunburn is damage, and the Zerg regenerate, my new status as the Overmind, and therefore on some level part of the Zerg now, means that I regenerate any damage before it becomes a problem. Either way, I enjoyed the shade the Overlord provided, and spread the rest out to increase the size of my mental map. The drones listed about more than anything since apples only fall so fast, and it was just easier to stand under the tree and catch the ones that'd already fallen. My Zerglings served well as a quick reaction force, wiping out every spider, along with the zombies and skeletons hiding under the trees from the sun. Even the creepers fell prey to the Zergling speed, since one only had to dart close, and then leap away before it exploded to get rid of them. I noted with interest that so long as the Creeper exploded on the creep, the ground remained unaffected.

It wasn't long like this though before my new Queen came into the world. Unlike the rest of the Zerg, this one's birth caused me to jolt in surpise, causing me to go underneathe the goop in the spawning pool briefly, before breaking the surface sputtering. Why did I have this reaction?

'I live to serve Overmind.' The Queen mentally broadcast to me.

I stared wide eyed as it came over towards me. I'd say she's a bit bigger than an Overlord if you ignore the tentacles on it's arms. She kinda looks like a giant spider with the torso of a… well, the torso of an alien really. She almost looks Protoss in a way like that. Weird.

"You can talk?" I asked.

"I can." The queen answered.

"Oh. Well um… what's your name?" I asked.

"I don't have a name."

"Why not?"

The Queen looked perplexed at this and was silent for a moment before answering, "I know not, Overmind."

"Well, that isn't right. You talk and have intelligence. Anything sentient has to have a name."

The Queen nods to what I've said as if it were the most logical thing in the world. Since I'm the Overmind, and she's a Zerg Queen, and I can feel her unquestioning loyalty, devotion, and affection for me beneath her sentience, I could probably say the sky is green and she'd agree.

"What shall I be named Overmind?"

Huh. I guess it would be up to me to name her come to think of it. Don't the parents name their child? And I am her father so to speak.

"I'll name you… Asura."

"Thank you, Overmind." Said the newly dubbed Asura.

I grimaced a little and said, "Your welcome. Could you call me something other than Overmind though? I have a name too."

"What is your name, Overmind?"

A thought pops into my head that at this point I could make up a name and go by that from now on, but after a moment, I dismiss the thought.

"My name is Matthew."

"Matthew…" The queen seemed to be rolling the name out as if she were tasting it, examining the sound closely. It made me feel a little awkward, which is rather quite the accomplishment since I've been swimming, and I've been swimming in the nude nowadays. Animals seeing you naked never feel the same as another sentient being.

Now that my nudity is at the forefront of my thoughts, I blushed a little. Even if she is Zerg, Asura's form is still female, so I asked, "Could you go… over there and do… what can you do anyway?"

Asura responded, "I can attack land and air from a distance with my talons, I can spawn four larvae at a time, I can burrow, I can spawn creep tumors, and I can use the transfusion ability to heal anything biological."

I nodded and said, "In that case, I want you to go and plant creep tumors to spread the creep. Just make sure that they're spaced so that they won't get in the way of any future buildings."

The Queen answered, "Yes Matthew. Of course, that won't be a problem. Creep tumors are formed underground, so you can build on top of them if you wish."

I didn't know that. "Huh. Good to know." I don't remember if that's how it worked in game, but I doubt it. Regardless, if the creep tumors are underground, then logically it makes sense to be able to build on top of them.

Once Asura was far enough off, I zipped out of the Spawning Pool, part of my brain noting with interest that the goop slid off so that not a single drop would spill outside of the pool. The rest of my mind is more focused on getting into my clothes. How I wish I could form some biological armor or something. I'd never have to worry about getting caught naked again.

Now that I'm clothed, I naturally went and followed after Asura, her being the first social contact I've had in three days, not including the feelings I get from the rest of the Zerg which already ensure that I'll never feel lonely again.

Once I'd caught up to her though, I found myself stuck. What to even say? I ended up following her around the edge of the creep, as she spawned more and more creep tumors. The whole process looked a little gross, but with aversion therapy, seeing her do it repeatedly, took the edge off of it.

Sometimes I'd catch her looking back at me, curious, but whenever that happened, she'd turn back to whatever she was doing.

After what must've been half an hour, I finally asked, "So… you're sentient?" I feel stupid, asking the obvious, but anything to get some conversation rolling instead of having to deal with this awkward silence.

Asura turned back to me, and answered, "Yes, I am sentient, Matthew."

Well, that didn't help much. What to ask, what to ask… "What's it like to be Zerg?"

Asura gave me a funny look at that, and replied, "It feels much the same as I imagine it feels for you, Matthew. I feel the connection of all the Zerg through you, and it is a wonderful feeling. Then there is you. You are our Overmind. Our Father. Your presence is like a bright star, warm and fulfilling to us."

I blushed. The way she said that sounded so reverant… even intimate. I could already feel the way the Zerg felt about me but to be put in words like that really drove it home. I guess it was different before, feeling something, but not really being able to understand why they felt that way about me. With Asura's explanation, I can understand it a little better.

Falling silent again didn't feel as awkward this time. It felt more companionable. I wondered what it would be like to have someone in my life who made me feel like the way these Zerg feel about me. Maybe Heavenly Father will be like that once I'm back in his presence again? That would be wonderful. A random thought had me considering what it must feel like to be cut off from that presence. It must be awful. Maybe that's why baby's cry when they're born? We'd have to forget what it felt like under that presence, or else the absence of it would have us destroying ourselves to get back to it.

Starting to feel hungry, I look around for the closest apple tree, when out of the corner of my eye, I spot Asura lean down and pluck a piece of the creep from the ground and put it in her mouth. I turn to gape at her, a little stunned, before looking down at the creep. It's true that the creep nourishes the Zerg buildings, but could it nourish the rest of the Zerg as well?

Curious, I reached down and plucked up a piece as well. The rest of the creep grew back to fill in the hole so fast that if I'd blinked I wouldn't have known there was a missing patch at all, if not for the piece in my hand. It still looks sort of like dark purple gum to me. Before I lost my nerve, I stuck it in my mouth and chewed. It's kind of sweet, like taffy, only more filling. I swallowed it and just like that, I wasn't hungry anymore. It would've taken a half dozen apples to achieve that before. This makes me happier than anything, since now I can eat for pleasure rather than necessity, and I'd hate to grow to dislike apples.

Looking up, I notice Asura has stopped and is smiling at me. Confused, but also curious, I asked, "What?"

She simply responded, "You're happy."

Nonplussed, I asked, "What about it?"

"We're happy when you're happy."

Surprised, I asked, "Wait, you can sense when I'm happy? The whole SWARM can sense when I'm happy?"

Asura nodded, smiling. Huh. I guess that's one down side to being Zerg. Absolutely no privacy. I guess it doesn't matter much when you are, and can feel, that you are unconditionally accepted by an entire race no matter what you do. The thought gave me a sense of belonging that made me feel warm, like I'd been wrapped in a warm blanket.

Asura seemed to smile even wider and whispered reverently, "When you're happy, we're happy."

This brought a tear to my eye. No joke, not even trying to be sappy. My eyes are watering from this. Now I feel embarrassed though, but I don't want to lose that happy feeling either. Uncharacteristically, I asked for something I never thought I'd ever be able to ask, feeling emotionally raw like this.

"Hug me?"

In the next instant, I'd been lifted up from the ground by the much larger Queen, and Asura had me in her arms, cradling me against her body. I wrapped my arms around Asura and closed my eyes, basking in the warm feeling echoing from the rest of the Zerg. I could quite happily spend the rest of my life feeling like this. I really could. And somehow, I instinctively know, the feeling will only get better the larger and more advanced the Swarm becomes. Considering how amazing this feeling is right now, I can hardly imagine what it would feel like beyond this.

I'm not sure what happened after that. The next thing I know, Asura is laying down in the Hatchery, still holding me in her arms. She must have continued on with my directions even as she hugged me. I never thought I could get so lost in a feeling that I'd lose all track of my surroundings. That's never happened to me before.

Thankfully being Overmind has its perks. The Overlords were quite capable of relaying to me what all happened during the day after the fact. Evidently Asura carried on with her directions, quite capable of continuing to spawn Creep Tumors and carry me at the same time. The rest of the Zerg did the same following my last given orders. I'm surprised though. If they're capable of doing that when I was that out of it, then why would the Swarm fall into disarray if the Overmind died?

Unable to think of an answer, I asked Asura that very thing.

She answered, "It would be unthinkable to us if you died. Your presence assures us. It binds us together. To lose you would be to lose the connection we Zerg share. I might be able to bind together a few Zerg by myself without you, but it would be a pale shadow to what we experience now. Without you, most of the Zerg would be mindless beasts, and us few sentients would be like any other sentient out there."

I frowned, "Doesn't that mean that in a way, by existing, you're bound to my will?"

Asura frowned as well, though I'm not sure if she is upset at the question or upset because I'm upset. She said, "I don't understand your question?"

Biting my lip, I tried to phrase it in a way she might understand, "What if I ordered you to do something contrary to what you want?"

Asura shook her head and answered, "That isn't possible."

"Why not?"

"Because the only thing I want is to serve you."

This frustrated me, until it dawned on me. I'd read a story in which a character tried to explain sight to a character who has never seen but uses senses other than sight. Just as in that case, it's rather impossible to explain free will to a creature who has never experienced it before.

"Is there nothing outside of serving me that you want? Nothing at all?"

Asura shook her head and asked, "Why would I want to?"

Why indeed. Come to think of it I can hardly answer that question myself. Before I became the Overmind, I was just sitting, listless, surviving from day to day. I can only account for myself really, but it seems to me people's motivations are spawned by what feels good to them. If you grow up pleasing your parents and they are pleased and that gives you good feelings of acceptance, then you'd continue to do so. If you don't get this feeling, but get good feelings from elsewhere, such as friends, then you'd be social. For me, nothing really felt good. Some things did, but invariably, I had to slosh through a lot of bad feelings to get to those few good feelings, and those good feelings never did really feel worth it. Not enough to outweigh the bad necessary to achieve it. So instead, I went ahead and just kept on surviving, hoping someday it would become better.

Only now it has. I have the Zerg Swarm in my life. I have the hatchery, the drones, the zerglings, the Overlords, and Asura, and being a part of the swarm is practically nothing but good feelings, with the promise of steadily more the larger the swarm gets, and the only bad part about that is the time involved. Seriously, life doesn't get much better than this!

But still… I have to know… freedom of choice is a right for any sentient life. So I had to ask, "Asura, if you had to choose something contrary of what I wanted, could you?"

I couldn't see her face, but the feelings I'm getting her seem to be pondering it. After a moment she slowly responded, "I… don't know. I don't see myself ever having a reason to try except at your request, Matthew."

I sighed, "And since you'd only try to exercise free will at my request, that doesn't lend credence of having free will unless you did something contrary to what I wanted of your own accord, but you'd have no reason to do that, so for all intents and purposes… you may as well be a slave with no free will."

The next thing I knew, Asura had me pinned with two of her mandibles as she used her arms to tickle me! She seemed to know all my weak points too, so I couldn't harden myself against it!

"HAHAHAHA! What are you-HAHAHAHA! STOP! HAHAHAHA! STOP PLEASE! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Finally she stopped and grinned down at me smugly. It took me a moment to catch my breath and I pouted at her look. Yes, I pouted. It's hard not to feel childish when you'd just been pinned and tickled.

Her next words though took my breath away.

"I didn't stop when you told me to."

I gaped at her as she continued to grin smugly at me.

"But… how!?"

She shrugged gently and answered, "You want me to have free will. I want what you want, so I now have free will."

If anything my mouth fell open even more.

"But... isn't that circular logic?"

"Only if you ever wanted me to not have free will anymore."

I nodded, finally getting it. I want her to have free will, and my belief in that is core to who I am. So long as I am who I am, she'll have free will. Blinking, I wondered if it's not for that very reason that humanity has free will thanks to God? It's an interesting thought, and one to file away for later, but not really important at the moment.

"If I ever desire for you to not have free will, I wouldn't be who I am anymore. Would the Swarm do all in its power to return me to who I am if that ever happens?"

Asura seemed to think on this for the moment, then responded, "If I didn't have free will, then I would answer no. My very essence is to obey you, so if you didn't want me to have free will anymore, then I wouldn't. I only want what you want."

Frustrated, I banged my head against the ground. Asura scooped her arm under my head and said, "Stop that."

"But we're right back where we started! How can you have free will if the core you is to follow my every desire?"

Asura didn't answer. She seemed to be waiting for something. I looked at her quizzically before it hit me, "…did you just tell me to stop doing something? I thought I was the Overmind here?"

Asura grinned, and said, "So long as your desire is for me to have free will, then I will have free will. If you want me to keep my free will, then you'll just have to keep desiring for me to have free will, now won't you?"

I blinked. No matter which way I looked at that, it seems like circular logic, but at the same time it somehow works. Still though…

"Let me rephrase my earlier question. My core self is to desire for the swarm to have free will. While that is the case, you have free will. However, if someone comes along and takes away my free will, then they might make me take away your free will. What then?"

Asura frowned and asked, "You are suggesting someone would actually sneak up on you, the Overmind, and overtake you? That would be impossible Matthew. Even if it were an ally who did this, as soon as anything contrary to what you desire overtook you, they would then have to face the full might of the Swarm, and we would not rest until you were put to right again. Don't forget, at our core, what you want, we want. Once we know what you want, we will do our best to get it."

I shook my head and asked, "And what if you didn't know that I'd been ensnared like that? What if you thought that what I wanted really was to take away your free will?"

Asura frowned again at this and stated, "That isn't possible."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because the entire swarm can feel you. Every facet of who you are. Not once while we've spoken have you changed. You're still you, and your desire for us to have free will is part of your core. To change that, would be to change who you are. Any attempt by anyone to do this would be instantly noticed by the rest of the Swarm, and we would do all in our power to return you to yourself, and any order you gave while compromised would be ignored. I'm still new to this, but I think I'm beginning to understand why free will is such a core part of what makes you, you. Even so, I can see that it still won't change who I am at my core; What you want is what I want. That will never change, just as I can tell that your desire for our free will will never change either."

I nodded, mollified. Asura had addressed every part of my argument satisfactorily. Even while she was explaining, I thought of the point about when the Overmind was killed, but even then the Cerebrates tried to reform the Overmind through themselves. And then once the Overmind was drugged, even though Kerrigan had her own motivations for it, she did ensure that the Overmind, drugged as it was, so clearly not itself, was destroyed. Would've been nicer if she'd freed the Overmind instead, but… the Overmind created her with free will in mind so that she could save the Zerg once he had been destroyed. Once Kerrigan was given back free will, she kept it at all cost, and that is what the Overmind had wanted, and even though Kerrigan wasn't the Overmind, he must've wanted the Zerg to obey her as well, so they did.

Just like Kerrigan, Asura has that now. If ever I'm incapacitated in any way shape or form, she, and all sentient Zerg, will do exactly as my true self wants, and that's the end of that.

Finally satisfied, and still wrapped up in Asura's arms, using her one arm as a pillow, I fell asleep.

-END CHAPTER-

Overmind mana – 100/100

Zerg Swarm Mana – 80/1,000,000

Zerg Supply – 23/60

Units:

1 Overmind

10 Overlords

15 Drones

12 Zerglings

1 Queen (Broodmother)

Structures:

1 Hatchery

1 Spawning Pool


	5. Chapter 5

_Zerg Mana – 2,340/1,000,000_

_Zerg Supply – 23/60_

_Mana required for Evolution: 500,000_

Huh. I have more mana than before, yet I hadn't gathered near as much. Why is that?

"It's because the creep is absorbing sunlight, which converts light into mana. The more creep available, the more light is absorbed." Answered Asura.

I blinked, "Did I ask that out loud?"

Asura giggled and answered, "Yes."

We're still laying on the floor of the Hatchery, and I'm still wrapped in her arms. I'm still a little sleepy though, having just awoken. I never was a morning person. Asura, on the other hand, looks like she's been awake forever.

"Didn't you sleep?" I asked.

Asura shook her head and replied, "Zerg don't need to sleep."

"Then why do I need to sleep?"

"Because you're still mostly human. You can change little things like that when you level up."

I nodded, "That makes sense. If none of the Zerg have to sleep though, can you keep the Swarm going while I'm asleep?"

Asura looked at me wide eyed, then shook her head rapidly, "You are the Overmind. I couldn't possibly…"

I interupted, "You have free will Asura… and it's what I want. You're not the Overmind that's true, but neither are the Cerebrates, and can't they do they same thing?"

Asura bit her lip, a motion I'm starting to find rather endearing despite her very non human appearance. She then hesitantly replied, "If you gave me orders to fulfill before you sleep… I could try my best to fulfill them for you. I couldn't just guide the swarm without your input. You are the Overmind."

I shrugged and wondered, "What if you or someone else with free will in the Swarm could lead the Swarm better than I could?" She shook her head emphatically and answered, "That's not possible. The Zerg would never answer to me. In your absence a few might answer, but ONLY in your absence! You're the Overmind! Your very presence is that of a bright star! You're presence is all encompassing! Compared to you, I'm just a speck. You can command the entirety of the Swarm, a Swarm that can span across the entire universe! Whereas I… I can only command a few Zerg. Possibly one brood if I tried hard. No one could lead the swarm as well as you could."

I frowned in thought, then wondered aloud, "What if I made a being that could? A literal successor, something greater than a cerebrate, like a mini Overmind? Or better yet, what if I made you into that form? An Overmind does need a Queen… an Overlady if you will? Queen sounds better though. Overlady sounds silly…"

Asura just looked at me while I pondered this like a deer caught in headlights. I caught the look and wondered, "You don't want to be like that?"

Asura stuttered, "I-I want only what you want…"

Concerned, I asked, "What's the problem then?"

Asura shook her head, but still regarded me in open wonderment, "I'm just a Queen, Matthew. Nothing more, nothing less. I've only ever been a Queen. To be something more… is beyond my comprehension… or it would be, but somehow I can see it. This free will… I can see myself in this position you describe clearly. A part of me even… desires it. I've never wanted anything else other than what you want before… but I'm just a Queen. I'm a Queen. I could never reach such a position without you. You're the Overmind. I'm a Queen."

I watched in interest as her shock seemed to clear up near the end. It's almost like she'd grabbed onto something familiar and comfortable, the way she'd considered herself just a Queen.

Asura turned to me and stated clearly, "I want only what you want." And she honestly meant it too. I could feel that. I can still feel her desire to become what I'd described to her, but at the core of it, she still only wants what I want, and since I desire to make her a Queen… dare I say it, MY Queen, she desires it too.

At this point, I can hardly see her spider like body with alien torso anymore. To my mind, she's become so much more. It's like I can see past the physical body to her core self. Maybe I'm just projecting onto her, but more and more her appearance seems almost… human. And a fairly attractive human at that. At that thought, I feel a slight stirring in my loins, but I repress that feeling for now. I'd been a slave to such feelings before. There's a time and place for everything, and this time is NOT now.

At this thought, I reluctantly climbed out of her arms and stretched, ambling over to the pool to drink. After munching on a piece of creep, I felt ready and raring to go. Turning back to Asura, I stated, "Since the collection of mana seems largely up to the Creep, I want the creep spread as far and as fast as possible ok? To quicken this… I want more Queens created. As many as possible."

Asura nodded at this, agreeing. I had been worried for a moment that she would be jealous, but then I realized how foolish that thought was. She's Zerg. I'm Zerg. We're all Zerg. It'd be one thing if we weren't all connected like we are, but we are. What use is jealousy when affection is freely given and felt by all?

With that squared away, I turned my attention to the larvae. I'm going to need more than three at a time, so I command three of the drones to stop what they're doing and start forming Hatcheries. Unfortunately, it'll be another 12 hours before they're finished, but that'll still be midday. With 1140 mana left, I set about creating more Queens. Supply wise, I can get 18 more… mana wise though, I can only put out five. I'm starting to think maybe I should've held off on creating more Hatcheries. Unfortunately in the game, I'm used to cheating so right off the bat, I usually put up four hatcheries in a square formation to pump out more units fast. Not exactly viable in this situation. Still, it'll be good for the long run, so it's not a crippling mistake.

With five new Queens out, I only have 140 mana left and 33/60 supply. Just for the heck of it, I pump out one more Overlord so now I have 65 total supply and only 40 mana. I consider putting out more Zerglings, but decide against it. More to the point, I wonder if I should start up on defenses. Unfortunately it seems that I can't build anything else while at level one. The two main defenses, spore and spine crawlers can't be accessed till level two. Level two will change everything though, with six queens available, all of which are pretty much deferring to Asura's lead in figuring out how to get used to free will, I have more information than I know what to do with.

Evidently, once level two hits, between the six queens and myself, we can change the swarm at the next level in small ways. Each level up we'll be able to change more and more, especially with the use of Overseers and their massive brains. Unfortunately, it's been determined that I won't be able to completely raise the Queens to the state I want until level five.

At level one, I can only access hatcheries, spawning pools, extractors, drones, overlords, Zerglings, and Queens. This is just to start off at.

At level two, I can access lairs, evolution chambers, spine and spore walkers (though my admiration of the protoss is causing me to favor doing away with spine walkers and making spore walkers capable of targetting land and ground, as well as make them sensors), the Roach warren, Baneling nest, and Hydralisk den, as well as those three units respectively, plus Overseers. I'm thinking of doing away with Banelings though. The idea of having suicidal troops when I'm shaping the swarm around the idea of unity and togetherness is extremely vulgar to me. Asura talked me out of that once I'd voiced it, with the other Queens agreeing most heartedly. When I asked why, their explanation caught me by surprise.

"It's because we're Zerg. We can't die. Not through old age, and not through the destruction of our physical bodies. Through you, if I were to die, by your will I would be reborn. Perhaps not immediately, but I can see it in your core that you would not allow me to be without form for very long." The other Queens agreed. Forarmed with that knowledge I had to agree that as the first line of shock troops, they would be useful. Still it'd be nicer if they could provide such an explosion without dying. I have a few ideas of how to pull that off, but nothing concrete yet.

At level three, I can access the Hive, Nydus Network, Spire, and infestation pit, giving me access to infestors, nydus worms, mutalisks, corruptors, guardians, and scourge. I'd been thinking of getting rid of the scourge for the same reason as the banelings, but again I was talked out of it. I am thinking of combining the scourge with the broodlings the Broodlords spawn as their weapon. It'd be my answer to the Protoss Carrier, having Broodlords spawn scourge instead of broodlings. I'd definitely have them capable of targeting ground as well as air targets though. Of course, I'm really hoping that I don't run into the Protoss, but if I do, I'd like to think we could be friends. I'm not evil after all.

At level four, I can access the Ultralisk Den, the Greater Spire, the Defiler Mound and the Nydus Canal. When asked the difference between a Nydus worm and Nydus Canal, the Queens had the grace to look embarassed. Asura answered, "We don't know how a Nydus Canal works. A nydus worm is a creature based from the Nydus network that has a vast interconnecting body with many heads. It can swallow a large number of Zerg forces and deposit them anywhere you wish on the planet from any unearthed head. Nydus canals… they are capable of instantaneous transport across any distance both ways, but can only transport one Zerg at a time, and only units that can walk on the ground. We don't know how they work, only that it involves some form of technology assimilated into the Zerg Swarm. We know how to use it and replicate it, but it is unknown how it works. The entire process is biological. Much like how the Leviathans and Behemoths are somehow capable of pushing themselves into warp space. We don't know how they do it, we just know they can."

Speaking of Leviathans, I can access them at level four as well, along with Ultralisks, broodlords, .

At level five though, that's when things get interesting. At level five, I can access cerebrates and behemoths. After this level the only real reason to raise the genetic level of the swarm is to make genetic changes and become tougher. That's it. After level five, the Zerg Swarm truly comes into it's own, and I can change anything on a genetic level that I want, hence why I have to wait till level five to elevate Asura and my other Queens to true Zerg Queens. Right now, it's easier to just refer to them as Broodmothers since that's what they basically are. They won't be true Queens of the Zerg until they can become like Sarah Kerrigan was and more.

Speaking of which, after learning all this, I could see that the Queens were corresponding telepathically with each other. They weren't really trying to be secret, but I still let them have their privacy. It didn't take them long before it seems they'd come to an agreement, and the youngest looking one stepped forward. She's a shy and timid thing. It seems free will is affecting them on a much deeper level than I'd first suspected, at least personality wise. I can still tell that they're all completely for me. I can't help but feel humbled at that.

Gathering her courage, the youngest Queen spoke, "My lord Overmind… M-Matthew… I and my sisters were wondering… if you would name us?" I glanced at Asura and she nodded to me encouraging not just me, but the youngest Queen as well. Even if I wanted to say no, I wouldn't have. The hardest heart would have melted from the earnest feeling being expressed by my youngest queen.

"I would be honored to name each of you." I answered gently. The Queen erupted into the biggest smile I'd ever seen. I smiled back and said, "Your name will be Joy." The newly dubbed Joy gave a squeal and faster than I could blink, tackle hugged me, I laughed out loud in surprise, and hugged back.

Slowly, one by one, the other Queens came forward to receive their names. I didn't really have much of an idea of what to name them, only by going off their personalies. I beckoned the next Queen forward and asked, "Is there anything in particular you want to be named for?" My next oldest Queen seemed to cast her eyes about and answered, "I like nature. There's something beautiful about the plants here. I think I'd like to tend to them as well as the creep. Especially the flowers. If anything threatens them, I will be pierce them through and scatter their corpses to the far winds. Nothing will harm my family or what I find beautiful."

Smiling, I told her, "Well said. Your name will be Rose. Beautiful, yet deadly." Rose smiled at this and whispered, "Thank you."

It seems my Queens have decided to go by age. The next oldest stepped forward and said, "I want to be named after something dangerous, yet beautiful too! I like seasons better though…"

After thinking a moment, I hit upon the perfect name, "Snow. Very little is as beautiful and yet deadly. Like the reflection you sometimes see in the ice, you shall have this name to match your younger sister."

Snow immediately hugged Rose, bringing the image of a frosted rose to my mind. Those two will go well together. After hugging Rose, Snow came forward and hugged me too. I hugged back and said, "With such warm hugs, maybe I should've named you Summer instead!" She laughed lightly and said, "I think I like Snow better." I smiled and nodded.

The next oldest stepped forward with her arms crossed, looking slightly defiant, yet anxious at the same time. I raised my eyebrow and her front seemed to crumble a little. I asked simply, "What would you like to be name for?" She seemed to reaffirm her self and said, "I don't know, Matthew." She seemed to deflate and continued softly, "I would like a name, but I don't seem to really have anything I want to be named after. I want a good name though. A strong name. One that my enemies will hear and know fear…" She seemed to want to continue, but she didn't. She looked down and shuffled her foot a little. Almost like an epiphany I suddenly got it. She wants others to fear her name so she won't have to actually fight. She's a pacafist like I am. Peace through making others not want to fight you in the first place. She does need a good strong name. A number of them passed through my head, but none really came close to the first that had entered my head while she was speaking.

"Your name… I will name you after one of my best friends. Being with her was like standing in the shelter of a wall of fire. At once, it can scare you, you don't want to come near it, but once you do, for those who know the real you… you are warm, passionate, and full of life. You are fun to be around. Your enemies will burn before you, but your loved ones will know your warm embrace. You are Faye. While not her true name, it is the one she used as a defense to stay hidden from those who didn't know her, while allowing her friends to stay close if they wished."

I held open my arms, and Faye slowly but firmly came forward and I pulled her into my arms. She clung tightly to me and whispered, "I will do all in my power to honor your friend's name. Please… tell me her real name?" I hesitated then said, "Talia… her name is Talia." She nodded and said, "I will remember it. Thank you for giving me such an important name to you."

With a lump lodged in my throat, I nodded back. It is entirely possible I might never see my best friend again. At this, my next oldest, and last Queen came forward hurriedly and gathered me into her arms and wrapped almost every limb she had available around me, doing everything short of smothering me. She even beckoned the other Queens forward and I somehow ended up in the middle of a giant group hug. After a few minutes like this, I felt loads better. I have my Queens now. I'll be alright. Smiling, I said, "Thanks, I needed that." Faye looked anxious and said, "If my name bothers you, I could always go by something else…" I smiled. She really is living up to her name sake. Although Faye didn't wear her heart on her sleeve quite like my Faye does. I shook my head and said, "It's not that. It's just thinking about my old friend had me realizing I might not ever see her or my original home again. It made me sad, but then you all cheered me up, and I realized with you all here with me, I'll be alright."

I turned to my last Queen and smiled. She twisted her hands together and asked, "Are you sure you're ok? I could always give you another hug if you want." Before I could even answer I found myself scooped up in another hug. I laughed and hugged back, "You remind me of Quatre. That's not really a girl's name though. No, I have a better name for you. Cuddles. Hmm… but that seems too much like a pet name. Not really one to strike fear into the hearts of enemies really…" Cuddles eyes widened and she waved her hands in front of herself, "No no no! I don't want to strike fear into the hearts of my enemies at all! I'd much rather we find a way to get along. Especially if we can bring others into the Swarm. Being in this giant family of ours is the best feeling ever!" I raised an eyebrow and asked, "But what if someone threatens our family?" Cuddles replied simply, "Then I'll keep offering them chances to surrender even while I stomp them flat."

I couldn't help it. I laughed. I laughed hard. "That response… was soooo Quatre… Cuddles it is!" Once again I found myself gathered up into what I'll probably end up later referring to as one of Cuddles' Hug of Doom!(TM) hugs. I have to say though, that look in her eye when she got to the part of stomping her enemies flat scared me more than anything. It was so flat and empty, like staring into the dark recesses of Death itself. I shuddered. Yup. Definitely Quatre. I wouldn't want to screw with him either, especially when he goes all Zero mode like that. You got to respect the one pilot who has a bigger body count than all the other pilots combined, all while still wearing that cherubic smile of his.

After a good amount of time being cuddled, Cuddles finally set me down. At this point, I regarded each of my Queens. First Asura, then Cuddles, third Faye, then the twins Snow and Rose, and then Joy. I shake my head in wonder. I don't know if I'll even be able to keep their names straight in my head let alone keep track of them all, even with a deep seated connection to all six of them. Smiling at them, I stated, "Right, time to spread the creep!"

With a chorus of affirmatives, many as varied as their personalities, each of my Queens split up to further spread the Creep. I don't really need any more space at the moment, so I don't have to worry about taking down trees. Unfortunately, with the size of my Queens, they're knocking down trees anyway. Sighing, I order a few drones out to collect the fallen trees. With nothing left to do for the day, I wandered back over to the Spawning Pool and stripped, swimming a few lazy laps before turning on my back and spending a good chunk of time flying around as an Overlord. I don't think I'll ever get over the novelty of actually flying. The only thing that might be more fun is taking control of a Mutalisk. I wonder… would any of my Queens be bothered if I entered their minds to control them? I know none of the non sentient Zerg are bothered by it. In fact, they welcome it. But my Queens… they're sentient and have free will… eh, maybe I'll ask at some point. Not that I can really think of a reason to do so.

When my stomach grumbled for food, I went to the edge of the pool, and leaning down, I plucked up a piece of Creep and ate it, then went back to floating around, both in the pool, and up in the sky. Man life can't get much better than this! With the day winding to a close, the only thing of real interest to note is that Rose came across an exposed chasm in the forest. She reported hearing a large number of monsters echoing from within. Also of note, is that Joy had finally spotted the edge of the forest, leading into a desert. With nearly the entirety of a large biome covered in creep, or at least I think it's almost the entirety. We've only spotted one edge of the forest after all. But, with that much covered in creep, I can't help but wonder just how much mana will have been gathered during the night?

Before I turned in for bed, Asura asked, "Do you have any orders for tonight?"

I thought about it for a moment, then answered, "Not tonight. I'd prefer to have some better long range defenses up before we seriously take up expansion during night time. Until then, we'll keep turtling up in the Hatcheries. I know you Queens can handle yourselves, but I don't feel comfortable having you deal with Creepers even if you can regenerate. Those things are silent as the grave and are very sneaky. Skeletons I doubt would cause you any trouble, but I definitely don't want to find out if Zombies could have any effect on you, and especially not Enderman. We've been extremely lucky none of them have shown up yet, though if I'm right, Zerglings may be the best fighters to take them down. Anything long range is automatically dodged."

Asura shook her head and said, "You worry too much. With the Overlords connected to all the Zerg, we have near perfect vision for the entire area too. It'd be almost impossible to sneak up on any of us." The Queens agreed and I smiled sheepishly. "Ok you caught me. Most of those are really excuses. In truth, I really just want to be able to snuggle up to the lot of you while I sleep, knowing you're safe."

A chorus of 'awww!'s broke out, and next thing I knew, Cuddles had me wrapped up in her arms in the bottom of a pile of Queens with Asura pressed up to my back. Closing my eyes, I almost missed Asura's words, "Whatever you want is what we want."

-END CHAPTER-

Overmind mana – 100/100

Zerg Swarm Mana – 40/1,000,000

Zerg Supply – 33/65

Units:

1 Overmind

11 Overlords

15 Drones

12 Zerglings

6 Queens (Broodmother)

Structures:

4 Hatcheries

1 Spawning Pool


	6. Chapter 6

_Zerg Mana – 5,235/1,000,000_

_Zerg Supply – 33/65_

_Mana Required for Evolution: 500,000_

'And so dawns the fifth day…' I thought as I woke up and stretched. Or at least I would have stretched if I weren't completely immobilized between Cuddles and Asura, not to mention I'm still piled beneath Joy, Rose, Snow, and Faye.

The lot of them are giggling, though I've no real idea why. Urk, ok, maybe I can guess why, as I realized a certain part of my anatomy is firmly pressed up against Cuddles lower area. I can only thank heaven I'm still clothed! For the first time I feel a little worried at having created so many Queens, and yet knowing I'm only going to end up making more.

"Erm… Cuddles? Could you let me up please?"

This seemed to trigger a fresh bout of giggles, and what's with that look on Cuddles' face? Somehow I'd expect that look wouldn't be too out of place if she were eyeing her next meal, and it's making me nervous.

Thankfully, Cuddles did let me go, and I got up and took off out of the Hatchery like a bat out of hell, heading for the tree line, the laughter of my Queens echoing behind me. I'm am SO screwed…

A few minutes later, I left the tree line sighing in relief that the old 'taking a leak' trick had worked on my morning wood for once. And to think I'd spent the last five days not even having to worry about my old problem… now it's suddenly springing up, pun not intended, and what's worse, I have six Queens and more on the way, who, if the last few minutes are anything to go by, are hell bent on torturing me to death! There are some days I really wish I could just take my libido out for a walk and shoot it in the head… repeatedly. Then douse it in fire until there's nothing but ashes left.

That's when a dastardly thought entered my head. Suppose my libido is one of the things I can get rid of once the new level up happens? Then I won't have to worry about my addiction ever again! I like sex as much as the next guy, but when it gets to the point that I have to take time out of my life just to, take care of the problem, as it were, it becomes terribly annoying. It's only made worse by the fact that this addiction has literally ruined my life up until this point. All of my major life goals require celibacy outside of marriage, so everything I'd been aiming for up till this point has been put on permanent hiatus until the situation can be taken care of. Unfortunately, it wasn't something I could take care of in any way… until now that is. This next level up has suddenly increased in priority than anything before. My addiction's days are numbered, and I can finally see freedom on the horizon!

A cough behind me, had me turning around. All six of my Queens were arrayed in front of me looking contrite. Cuddles stepped forward and said, "I'm sorry Matthew. I didn't know our teasing you like that would upset you so much. Please forgive us… forgive me?"

Smiling, I wordlessly opened my arms and Cuddles rushed into them. I gave her a squeeze and said, "I wasn't upset at you…. At any of you. If anything I was upset at myself. There's nothing to forgive." Cuddles nodded and set me back down. I think I'm starting to get used to their hugs lifting me off the ground. Considering I'm so much bigger than most people, standing at 6'6", it's very unusual for me to actually be dealing with a situation where everyone is bigger than I am.

Nodding to each of my Queens, I clapped my hands together and said, "Right. Time to get to work. The creep still needs expanding, but before we do that, we need to start increasing our defenses. We haven't faced much opposition yet, but this world is dangerous. It's only a matter of time before we start to catch the attention of things better left alone. But unfortunately for them, this is our world now, so we're going to have a fight on our hands. I'd rather we not have to fight at all, but these monsters are mindless. They will attack us, and we will have to defend ourselves."

Rose raised her hand. I smirked at that and said, "You don't have to raise your hand Rose. Just speak up if you have something to say ok?" Rose nodded and asked, "What else is there on this world that could pose a challenge to us?"

I nodded and answered, "Quite a few things actually, one of which I'm praying with all my might doesn't actually exist, because if he does, I don't think there's anything we can do before level five to actually stop him."

I took a deep breath and said, "What you first need to know about this world is that it's actually three worlds combined. First is the Overworld, which we're in right now. Next is the Nether, which can only be accessed through an Obsidian gateway of purple flame, and the End, which can only be accessed by tracking down the gateway to it with an Eye of Ender, and even then we'd need a number of those eyes in order to open the portal to it. There's also possibly a fourth world called the Aether, but I honestly have no idea how we'd get there or what might be there."

Tired of standing, I sat down, and my Queens followed my example doing so. Continuing with my explanation, "First, the Overworld. We've already seen Zombies, Skeletons, spiders, and Creepers. Also the first night I was here, I also had to deal with an Enderman. I never saw it, which is lucky, but it collapsed my first shelter, exposing me to the rest of the monsters at night. Enderman are extremely dangerous. If you look directly at them, they will attack you on sight. They're tall, midnight black, and extremely scary. Their most dangerous feature is they have the ability to warp to any spot they wish with almost no warning. That small warning is that a purple dust seems to emenate from them, and if you learn to track it, the direction the dust trails to when they disappear is the direction they warped to. Their teleportation reacts automatically to any ranged attack, so melee is the only thing that works. They also have a nasty habit of randomly taking a chunk out of anything you build. It's more annoying than anything, unless you're under a shabby shelter made of sticks that can collapse at the slightest disturbance. If possible, I'd like to bring the Enderman's ability to teleport into the swarm. If we can make that ability open to the entire Swarm, I can think of very little that would ever be able to stop us."

"Outside of the Enderman, there's not much in the Overworld that can stop us. We'll be able to find local villagers if we can ever get to a plains area. They'll trade with us and aren't to be harmed if we can help it. They can build iron golems, which are dangerous at close quarters, but most of our warriors could take one down. Still, villagers are most likely sentient, and I don't want to bother sentients if I don't have to."

"There are also plenty of animals that won't harm us and will most likely run away if we bother them. These would be sheep, pigs, cows, and cats. It should be noted that creepers are scared of cats and run away from them. If we can replicate this, that would be ideal. If not, well, cats can be tamed with raw fish and can be found in jungles. They'll come to you if you hold out a fish and hold still."

"Wolves shouldn't be a problem either. They won't attack unless attacked first. They can be tamed with bones from those skeletons if any of you are interested in keeping pets here."

"If we ever go down into the caves, we may find small spiders, silverfish, and, if we go deep enough, slimes. Those three are more annoying than anything, although silverfish are this world's version of the Zergling. Small, fast, and does little damage, but they tend to pop out of nowhere and swarm. So long as you can stand them nibbling on you and jumping at you, you'll be fine. Slimes are just blobs of slimey stuff. All they do is jump around and at you, trying to bump into you. They're not very dangerous at all."

"Now," I stated becoming extremely serious, "Other than those things, there is one other thing in the Overworld. HE is more myth than anything, but in case HE does exist, I won't say his name, since I've heard saying HIS name three times will summon him. Trust me when I say, you do NOT want to screw with this guy. He looks human, with brown hair, a blue shirt, and blue jeans. His most notable feature is his white blank eyes with no pupils. If you do see him, TELL THE REST OF US IMMEDIATELY. Most notable among the powers he has, which can only be speculated on, is that he is invincible. If you fight him and he 'dies', he will most likely come back to fight us again. He can fly, turn invisible, has super strength, and can call lightning bolts down from the sky. Worse still, he has a teleportation ability that leaves no trace and has NO limits. An Enderman can travel extremely far horizontally, but vertically it can only teleport upwards a short distance. This thing can appear everywhere and yet nowhere. Pray you never see him or hear of him, because if you do, the entire Swarm might not survive his wrath. In case you do hear his name, I don't want you repeating it out of ignorance, so you should know that his name starts with an H and ends with an E."

My Queens nodded, fearfully. Good. Hopefully they'll be wary and not ever come across HIM. Hopefully if we're lucky, the truth will be that he really doesn't exist and is just a myth. All the same, I can't wait till I can get the Swarm spaceborn and leave this planet behind. I don't want to leave any ties at all for HIM to find us. Not unless I can find some way to make the swarm invincible, or at least myself invincible. I can at least restart the Swarm, but not if we're all dead or worse.

Sighing, I said, "Thankfully, the rest of the creatures we may face are nothing compared to that, so for the most part we should be fine. Still though, I would like it if we can incorporate the diamonds we find on this world into our armor. It'll go a long way to making sure we stay safe on this world."

"Now, as to the Nether. We can get there by creating a rectangular gate made out of Obsidian, and then lighting a fire on the interior of it. It needs to be tall enough for an Enderman to pass through. On the other side of this gate will be a world of lava. It's a hell like world, that is speculated to be located underneath the deepest recesses of this planet. While we don't have to go to the Nether, it does contain this world's greatest weapon. Glowstone. It emits light as bright as the sun, and I'm sure you noticed, all creatures of this world either go docile under the sun, or just don't spawn. It only takes a single shadow for the monsters of this world to appear in, and the less shadows there are, the more concentrated the monsters will appear in that one shadow. Unlike the sun however, zombies and skeletons will not burst into flame from the light of glowstone. If we can situation glowstone everywhere though, that'll cut down our enemies ability to appear everywhere within our territory, and it should double our income of mana, maybe even quadruple it if we can layer glowstone underneath the creep as well. After all, the faster we level up, the faster we can get away from this planet and avoid the risk of meeting HIM."

My mouth is getting dry. Continuing, "As for the monsters of the Nether, it's surprisingly not as dangerous as you'd expect. There are magma slimes, which are basically slimes on fire. Nasty, but rare. Zombie pigmen are surprisingly docile. Like the wolves though, they will amass on you if you attack them. The most dangerous enemy you'll face in the Nether are the Ghasts and the Blazes. Both fly, and both shoot fireballs. Unlike the blaze, the ghast's fireballs are explosive and can only be damaged by hitting their underbelly. Thankfully Ghast's fireballs don't catch fire easily, but Blazes do. Blazes are more rare however, but we'll have to find some if we plan on getting to the End. The main reason the Blazes are so dangerous though is because most of the nether is made of a material that can burn indefinitely. The only reason it ISN'T suicide to take on a Blaze in the Nether is because fire spreads to slowly to be a true problem, else the entirety of the Nether would be on fire, rather than just hot enough to evaporate water on contact."

All of the Queens were looking at me like I'd grown a second head, and Asura asked slowly, "And you WANT to go to this place?" I shrugged and said, "We're the Zerg. We can adapt. Besides, if we can assimilate the ability to survive in a place like that, who knows what we can do? Imagine Zerglings who can catch fire at will and survive the experience. That would be extremely useful, don't you think?"

Asura nodded along with Rose and Snow, looking thoughtful. Cuddles and Joy still looked unsure, but I doubt they have any real reason not to go for it. Continuing on, "Now for the End. I honestly have no idea where that place is. For all I know, it could be this world's moon. The reason the place is dangerous Is for two reasons. One is that it's the home of the Enderman. You couldn't throw a stick without hitting one. There are that many of them. Second is the Ender Dragon. As far as Dragons go, it's not that large and not even that dangerous. It's main attack is to ram into you. I don't think it can even breath fire. The bad part about the Ender Dragon, is that no structure can survive it's passing. Everything it runs into is destroyed. All except Obsidian and Bedrock, or Adamantium. Now, if we can get Adamantium infused into our armor, then at that point we can probably kiss our troubles in defense goodbye. The reason is that Adamantium is indestructible. Nothing, and I mean nothing can put a scratch on it… well, nothing short of diamond anyway. If we can assimilate adamantium into the Swarm, then perhaps not even HE could bother us anymore."

"Back to the point though, it honestly should be all that hard for us to take down the Enderdragon. If one guy can do it with a bow and arrows, a couple Hydralisks ought to take the thing out of the sky in seconds. The only trouble to this is that it's realm is filled with towers that regenerate its health if it flies near them. Funnily enough they're explosive, so if you shoot one while it's near enough to regenerate from it, it'll end up getting more hurt than it would've been otherwise. After that, we'll gain access to the egg of an Enderdragon and well… being able to assimilate the ability of having nothing survive contact would be a nice thing to have for our weapons."

The Queens were silent at this, and after a moment, I stood up and brushed off my pants and said, "Well that's all I know about this planet. Any questions?" After waiting a moment, the Queens all shook their heads. I think they might still be shell shocked from everything I'd just told them. I can hardly blame them. It's going to be one heck of a fight claiming this planet, if that is truly what we end up doing. I'm still toying with the idea of pushing to level four as fast as possible and just hightailing it away from this planet, but there really are some useful things we could gain here if we stick it out.

My Queens headed off to continue the work started yesterday. Now, what to do with 5,235 mana? My first thought would be to pump out more Queens, but that's not really necessary at the moment. With my six Queens, they're already pushing out the boundaries of the Creep to the point that any more Queens would just get in the way. Interestingly, the more creep tumors they spawned, the more efficient they seem to be getting at it. It wouldn't surprise me if in the end, it didn't cost them anything to make the things. Of course, six Queens aren't going to be able to cover an entire planet with creep very quickly, but at the moment, they should do just fine.

So for now, I decided to not spend any mana. Hopefully I'll soon have enough for the next level up. Because of this, the rest of the day went fairly quickly, at least until late afternoon, when a wild, crazy idea popped into my head. Right now, I'm only relying on the creep tumors to spread the creep out, but those aren't the only things that can spread creep. Hatcheries spread the creep even better than creep tumors do, and unlike the tumors, they don't require being built on creep itself! I can spread the creep exponentially if I have the drones scout out and establish new hive clusters!

Resolving to do just that, I ordered all drones to cease collecting resources and scout out new spots for Hatcheries. By evening, five of them had started spawning. By bedtime, all of them had found suitable locations for more Hatcheries to spread the creep. Unfortunately, two of them would have to wait till morning to create their Hatcheries.

With that taken care of, I spent most of the day floating in the Spawning pool, following the Queens around, and occasionally directing a Drone. At the end of the day, Asura and Cuddles went to bed with me. The others had decided to try their hand at surviving out in the open and placing down more creep tumors. I allowed this so long as they paired off to watch each other's backs.

-END CHAPTER-

Overmind mana – 100/100

Zerg Swarm Mana – 35/1,000,000

Zerg Supply – 20/65

Units:

1 Overmind

11 Overlords

2 Drones

12 Zerglings

6 Queens (Broodmother)

Structures:

4 Hatcheries (13 Spawning in progress)

1 Spawning Pool


	7. Chapter 7

_Zerg Mana – 8,755/1,000,000_

_Zerg Supply – 18/65_

Well I guess that means that the drones have already started building those last two Hatcheries. I'm surprised I don't have more mana, but after thinking about it, I realized that the other Hatcheries spawning during the night meant that the creep hadn't had much time to absorb much light, not to mention there isn't much light to absorb at night anyways. I can't wait to see how much mana I'll have by tommorrow.

Getting up, I'm surprised to find myself alone in the Hatchery. I'm a little surprised, and actually feel a bit hurt at this. I guess I really have gotten used to sleeping in the arms of my Queens. They aren't far though. They're all out and further spreading the creep, though I'm a bit surprised at their pace. It almost seems a bit manic really. After getting a drink and a bite to eat, I wonder over to the closest one, Joy, and ask, "Hey, what's going on?" I know I could've just reviewed what the Overlords had seen, but I decided to just ask.

Joy turned fearful eyes to me and answered, "We faced Endermen last night. They weren't very tough, but it was impossible to pin them down. Skeletons and Zombies are easy to kill. We can rip them to shreds with our claws. But the Enderman kept teleporting away, usually behind us, and something about their presence… they're scary. I don't want to have to face those things again."

"Were they able to hurt you?" Joy shook her head and said, "They did much the same thing as the Zombies, trying to grab and bite. But those noises they make… none of us want to fight them again if we can help it."

I nodded and said, "That's why I wanted to leave the Endermen to the Zerglings. The monsters of this world aren't terribly difficult to destroy, but some of them are pretty creepy. I'm glad none of you were hurt." Joy nodded, slowly smiling again now that we had stopped talking about Endermen.

I nodded to the vastly expanded Creep and asked, "Is that why you all are working at such a fast pace?" Joy nodded and said, "The faster we get the creep expanded, the faster we can leave this place."

I nodded at that, and asked, "Do the Endermen leave bodies like the other monsters here?" Joy frowned in distaste and nodded. That was another thing that set this world apart from Minecraft. The monsters didn't disappear in death. I'm glad to hear that the Endermen leave bodies though. That'd make assimilating their ability to teleport easier than actually trying to catch one. Reviewing what the Overlords had seen last night, I watched proudly as my Queens stood back to back fighting off a few Endermen. I'm surprised there were so few though. After the fight, Asura and Cuddles had left the Hatchery to join the others in spreading the Creep. It's rather astonishing how far they'd been able to spread it. With the new Hatcheries set up, the entire forest biome has been covered in Creep, as well as a good chunk of that desert to the East, and a part of the Jungle to the North had been added, as well as the plains to the west, the mountains to the south, and the taiga to the south west. I had to shake my head. I don't think I'll ever understand how the climate of this world works.

Anyways, time to go to work! With all my drones out, I'll need to make new ones. Also, with my Queens out so far spreading Creep Tumors, I assigned each one an Overlord so that they'll be able to evacuate quick if necessary. As for expanding the creep, I can't decide if I should pack a couple Overlords full of Drones and send them off in different directions, or just have each Hatchery provide three drones to continue on in different directions themselves.

Speaking of Overlords though, something's been bugging me. If I remember correctly, in Starcraft 1, Hatcheries provided supply for the Zerg. Why don't these Hatcheries do the same? I don't understand it, but hopefully it's something I'll be able to change come the next level up. Maybe I'll even be able to make the Hatcheries capable of defending themselves. They've got four giant spikes after all. Why can't they use them like the Queens use theirs?

That's for later though. Deciding to go with just having each Hatchery provide three more drones, I quickly set out to do just that. With 39 extra drones, I'm now down to… 7,780? That's it? Sheesh drones are cheap! My supply is now 57/60. Hatcheries aren't cheap though, so I hold off buying anymore of those. Actually when it comes down to it, I'll only be able to afford 19 Hatcheries now! 20 of my drones will just have to choose new locations and sit tight. With 19 new hatcheries on the way, I'm down to 180 mana and 38/65 supply. By days end though, the sheer amount of space I'll have covered with creep is at least five times larger than I had yesterday, what between the Queens working overtime and the new Hatcheries set up.

With business taken care of, I go about my routine of following some of my Queens, occasionally engaging in small talk, swimming in the Spawning Pool, and flying about in an Overlord. I'm actually starting to feel a bit lazy. Well, this is a Minecraft world isn't it? Why don't I start acting like it? Tommorrow, I'm going to start mining.

-END CHAPTER-

Overmind mana – 100/100

Zerg Mana – 180/1,000,000

Zerg Supply – 38/65

Units:

1 Overmind

11 Overlords

20 Drones

12 Zerglings

6 Queens (Broodmother)

Structures:

19 Hatcheries (19 Spawning in progress)

1 Spawning Pool


	8. Chapter 8

The next day I woke up in Joy and Cuddles arms. It felt nice. I hadn't said anything, but I guess they figured out I wasn't happy waking up alone yesterday. Stretching, I made to start out my day.

_Zerg Mana – 22,840_

_Zerg Supply – 18/65_

Holy crap that's a lot of mana! Checking over my Swarm quickly told me that I now have 38 Hatcheries and the other 20 are already in the process of spawning. But that would mean that before those 20 started to spawn, I was sitting at… 30,840 Mana? Holy crap! I guess my plan to spread the Creep they way I have is working!

Excited, I immediately set to work spawning as many Drones as I could from my new Hatcheries. That gives me 43 Drones, 65/65 supply, and 21,765 mana left. Sending the drones out to spawn more Hatcheries, I finish my morning ritual, and go out to float in the pool and explore my land in an Overlord. I don't have enough to see everything that my land covers. That's going to need fixing. I add making Hatcheries sensors as well as capable of as much sight as the Overlords to my to do list.

About midday, my last drone finishes finding a new site for a hatchery, dropping my supply back to 18/65 and my mana to 4565. By then my growing Hatcheries had finished as well, giving me a total of 58 Hatcheries. By midnight that number should increase to 101. Geez that's a lot of hatcheries! My Queens are still out spawning Creep tumors, but with the new Hatcheries set up, their work now involves filling up the cracks in the creep between the hatcheries. My Queens are practically exploring the world now. I'm surprised they aren't bored though. Such work has to be tedious by now. Surprisingly though, they aren't. I guess it's hard to be bored when everything they're doing is slowly but surely increasing the size of the Swarm. Working towards a higher cause can do wonders for moral it seems, especially when you don't have to be lonely ever and can hold conversations across any distance mentally. How they haven't run out of things to talk about is also beyond me.

Let's see, with my new Hatcheries underway, the next step will be to get more Overlords. Spending the last of my mana, dropping me down to 65, I now have 45 extra overlords, giving me a total of 56, raising my suppy to 18/290. Spreading them evenly over my land still doesn't cover the entire creep though. With the ability to have Overseers coming up in the near future, and making the Hatcheries fill in for the Overlords original purposes, I'm probably going to have all my Overlords become Overseers. I'm still going to need Overlords for transport purposes though, but from where I'm sitting, that will get phased out too by the Leviathans. I'm going to have to weaponize Leviathans as well come to think of it. If only the Oveseers were still capable of transport! I don't know… I'm still thinking about it. I haven't decided yet if I'll change that part of the swarm yet.

Climbing out of the pool, I cloth myself and enter into an Overlord. It's not all that different from being inside a Hatchery actually, just smaller. The fact that both can regulate their internal temperature to feel like a cool 70 degrees makes it all the nicer.

Almost as an after thought, I have the overlord pick up my dozen zerglings as well. I direct the Overlord to the chasm Rose discovered a few days ago. It's time to try my hand at mining!

Looking through the Overlord's eyes, I looked down into the chasm astonished. Rose had said anything about just how big it is! And the sheer amount of monsters is rather daunting, and there are plenty of endermen down there too. Luckily they didn't react to the Overlord, since with 360 degree vision, they don't have to look directly at anything.

Directing the Overlord near the bottom, I have it deploy the Zerglings first, who proceed to rip the monsters to shreds. As I expected, the Zerglings had no trouble dealing with the Enderman. With the Overlord nearby granting them it's vision, nothing could sneak up on the Zerglings at all.

Finally, with all the monsters in the immediate area destroyed, I turn my attention to the rock wall trying to spot minerals. I spot iron and coal immediately, as well as a small vein of diamond ore sitting over a lava pool. That's going to be annoying to get at. Just as I'm about to exit the Overlord, a brilliant idea hits me. You need a pickaxe in minecraft to mine, and while I'd brought wood with me to make one, why don't I just use the Zerglings? Their claws are probably more than capable of carving the rock to bits if they can cut up neosteel and whatever the Protoss make their warmachines and armor from.

Sitting back, I direct the Zerglings to strip mine the area, then bring back anything of value. After a few minutes and watching the Zerglings struggle to carry stuff back to the Overlord, I lament not bring drones with me before I exit the Overlord to grab stuff to carry back myself. Since the Zerglings and the Overlord have nightvision, I don't even have to worry about not being able to see either.

As for the diamonds, I decided to leave them there for the moment. With lava available, I'd be better served getting some obsidian available as well. I directed the Overlord to collect some water from the river to drench the obsidian. Thankfully this is real life, so the water source wasn't infinite. I don't know whether to be grateful or disappointed in this. An infinite water source would've been very handy, but the blatent 'screw you' to physics would've given me a major migraine. With the obsidian layered over the lower pool of lava, and not really wanting to carve it up, I directed the Overlord to use it's tentacles to heave it up and deposit it topside, but not before I had the Zerglings carve down the diamonds.

Goal completed, we flew back to the main hive cluster, and unloaded our findings. Using the Zerglings, I had them carve out of the obsidian a proper sized archway as an entrance to the Nether. Dragging it a fair distance from the Hatchery itself, I had the Overlord lift it up and then situate it into the ground so the creep could help stabilize it and keep it upright. That finished, I sifted through the gravel we'd collected till I found a good size piece of flint. Then in a stroke of brilliance, I made the Overlord become a temporary furnace, melting the iron we'd collected into ingots, and using packed dirt as molds, created a solid iron pickaxe. Brushing the flint against the tip of the pickaxe produced sparks, igniting the nether portal open. Unlike in the game though, you can actually see the Nether through the portal from either side. It's pretty cool.

Directing a Zergling through the Portal was trippy. I could still see the Zergling, but according to my senses, I can feel the Zergling as if it's in front of me, but I can also feel as if it's thousands of miles below my feet. It seems the speculation that the Nether is actually located at the center of a Minecraft world has been proven. I wonder if that means that the End really will be the moon, or somewhere else entirely?

My thoughts are interupted by a strange chirping noise that sent chills down my spine. Next thing I know there's an explosion, the Zergling is dead, and the nether portal's connection is cut. I could only stare in shock. Ghasts can oneshot Zerglings, yet can't do the same with a guy in diamond armor? How the hell does that work!?

"What's going on?" "What happened?" "Is something wrong?"

Blinking, I looked around. I guess I'd been so lost in my thoughts I hadn't noticed my Queens approaching. I shook my head and said, "Nothing's really wrong. It's just that we lost a Zergling to a Ghast. Somehow the thing oneshotted the Zergling. I don't know how that's really possible, but it did. This pushes any invasion plans for the Nether back a bit, until we can assimilate diamonds into our armor."

My Queens still look shaken, and Asura approached and put her hands on my shoulders, "From now on, if you're going to do something like this, would you please have us nearby? You're still mostly human so far to easily damaged for our peace of mind, even if you can regenerate. Anything that can oneshot a Zergling would do far worse to you."

I nodded, "Agreed. That's mainly why I was so shocked. I know of a human who was able to take multiple hits from a ghast and survive, just by wearing some armor. Now a Zergling with armor far superior is one shotted? I didn't expect that at all. Don't worry though, I didn't take any unneccessary risks. I knew a Ghast might be too much for me, that's why I sent the Zergling first. Still, I'll feel better having you around in case something like this happens again."

Asura nodded, and along with the rest of the Queens, looked relieved. Pulling the Diamonds I'd stowed in my pocket out to look at them, I looked up at Asura and asked, "Now, how would I go about getting Diamonds assimilated into the Swarm, particularly the armor?"

Asura thought for a moment, then replied, "We'd need access to the Evolution Chamber before we could do that. It'd also be far easier to do so if we had a genetecist, but those are always Cerebrate level, and we can't get them until level 5. Between us though, I'm sure we could come up with something."

I nodded, sighing. The only thing left that I can think of off the top of my head would be to get some Adamantium. Voicing this, The Queens decide to come along with me this time. Back in the chasm, between the Queens and the Zerglings, we were tearing it up, trying to reach bedrock. Despite working the rest of the day away, by nightfall we still hadn't reached the bottom, though we'd certainly spread the chasm out quite a bit. It more resembles a pit than a chasm now, and the sheer amount of diamonds, coal, flint, stone, and obsidian I have available is almost ridiculous.

Calling it quits for the night, the Queens and I headed back to the hatchery, leaving the Zerglings to continue in the digging effort, since their ability to burrow allows them to do so and avoid monsters at the same time. Faye had thought of that one, and I was particularly impressed with her. She fairly glowed afterwards. I was also able to use the Overlord as a furnace to form a solid obsidian pickaxe. It almost combusted from the temperatures needed, but it turned out to be well worth it, since it hadn't chipped in the entire time I'd used it. Also worth noting is that by now all the drones I sent out to spawn Hatcheries have finished, bringing my total Hatcheries up to 101. I can't wait to see how much mana I'll have tommorrow. Tuckered out from the long day, I fell asleep rather quickly.

-END CHAPTER-

Overmind mana – 100/100

Zerg Mana – 65/1,000,000

Zerg Supply – 18/290

Units:

1 Overmind

56 Overlords

20 Drones

11 Zerglings

6 Queens (Broodmother)

Structures:

101 Hatcheries

1 Spawning Pool


	9. Chapter 9

Another new day. I wonder how long it's been? Something like a week and a half? I can't remember.

_Zerg Mana – 64,985_

Holy crap on a pogostick! My mana just increased over ten times! I knew jumping from about 20 hatcheries to 101 would be huge, but sheesh! All six of my Queens are bundled up around me, with me in the center. They're awake, so I squeeze out from under them and rush off to use the bathroom. Coming back I get a drink and breakfast ala creep. It's nice only needing one to two very small meals a day. I miss having variety, but then I didn't have much variety even when I was human. Being unable to cook doesn't mean you have much in the way of variety to eat.

Speaking of mana though, it occurred to me that I should probably have more. Yesterday I got about 20000 mana with only about 40 hatcheries… but not all of them had been up and running, so a good chunk of the creep hadn't had time to absorb much light before I'd gotten my daily quota. Come to think of it, those extra hatcheries didn't have much time to absorb much mana themselves last night. That means even if I didn't build any more, the next day I'd probably get like, 80,000 or something.

Well, first things first, I need to do a bit of mental math. I could create 200 or more drones now to build hatcheries, but a hundred hatcheries would cost 40,000. Two hundred would cost 80,000 and I just don't have that much yet. Would 150 do it? That'd be 60,000, but do I have enough to build 150 drones AND 150 hatcheries? Lets see… 150 drones would be… 3750. Yup, I have enough! Sending out the command, I build 150 drones, dropping me to 61,235, and 168/290 supply.

Once they finished, I sent the order out for them to spread the creep with Hatcheries. Not even an hour later, all of them have set up, leaving me at 1,235 mana and back down to 18/290 supply again. I contemplated putting out 12 more overlords, then figured, why not, and did just that. Now I'm sitting at 18/350 supply and 35 mana. With that out of the way, it's time to go back to the chasm turned pit and do some more digging.

Catching an Overlord over there, I'm suitably impressed. The Zerglings had worked all throughout the night. While they hadn't dug any deeper, they had widened the pit a lot, to the point where the creep had started down the edges into it. I quickly ordered the Zerglings to stop doing that since I don't really want to be digging through creep that is constantly regrowing back. Still, with the pit widened like this, sunlight can easily penetrate, lowering the monster count significantly. A number of exposed tunnels were branching off everywhere from it. I wondered if this might be an entrance to a fortress, and if this might not be where we'll find the end portal? That'd be really lucky, if that's the case.

Grabbing my solid obsidian pickaxe, we went to the center and created a very large corkscrew time mineshaft, digging down further and further. We were stymied once, hitting a pocket of lava, but with clever usage of water, we ended up with even more obsidian, until at last, at midafternoon, we finally reached the adamantium.

I took a swing at it with my pickaxe. It didn't even make a dent. Not even the Queens or the Zerglings could scratch it, though we found pieces of it were fairly easy to lift up and load into the Overlord. I didn't want to risk the Overlord trying to smelt the stuff though. It'd nearly caught fire smelting the obsidian. Smelting the Adamantium might actually cause it to catch fire this time. Still, we have what we came for.

Joy watched some of the strange specs of darkness floating up from beneath the adamantium and asked, "What's this?"

I looked over, and seeing what she was referring to, I responded, "I don't know what it's called, but beneath this adamantium is something called the void. It's a pitch black pit that may as well be never ending for how deep it goes. Light doesn't penetrate it and it goes down for hundreds of miles before you finally reach the Nether. Those specs of darkness float up from that, so it might be tiny pieces of the void."

"Do yourselves a favor. Never try and find an opening to the void. I've seen this world before in an interactive recording called a game, in which you control that human I told you about, the one who can take a few blasts from a Ghast and survive? Well, you can do things in games that you can't in real life, and so one of the things you could do was break any block you wanted if you weren't playing to survive. I dug down once past the adamantium. Falling into the void is death. It's not instant, but if you fall deep enough in, you'll die. Just looking down in it though, was creepy as hell. If it was that creepy viewing it through a screen, I don't want to know how creepy it is in real life. Besides…" I continued quietly, "I strongly suspect that if HE does exist, than the void may very well be where HE lives."

As soon as I said that, there was a literal mad scramble to get onto the Overlord and away from the pit. I couldn't blame them. We'd have to get powers more akin to a diety in order to face HIM than what we have now. All was quiet as we travelled back to the main hive cluster. Since we have our adamantium now, once level two comes, we'll be able to incorporate the stuff into the Zerg. Or at least I hope we can. The stuff might even be invulnerable to the processes needed to do just that!

We stored all the stuff we'd collected from our dig in the Hatchery next to the one we sleep in. We did dump all our gravel, dirt, and stone into the Zerg Mana Pool though. Should hopefully add a nice amount of mana later. With that finished, the Queens used their Overlords to get back to their spots to continue laying down creep tumors. Thanks to all the Hatcheries though, there wasn't much call for the creep tumors anymore except for here and there. They did more spot checking than anything before finally flying to the edge of the creep and planting more creep tumors there.

As for me, I spent the rest of the day flying in my Overlord until night fall before going to bed. Before I got to sleep, I noted that the last of my 150 Hatcheries had finished, giving me a grand total of 251 Hatcheries. Things are really looking up!

-END CHAPTER-

Overmind mana – 100/100

Zerg Mana – 35/1,000,000

Zerg Supply – 18/350

Units:

1 Overmind

56 Overlords

0 Drones

11 Zerglings

6 Queens (Broodmother)

Structures:

251 Hatcheries

1 Spawning Pool


	10. Chapter 10

My days are starting to really become routine now. Not that I can really complain as I snuggled closer to Cuddles who responded by holding me even tighter to her. Yes I could totally get used to this.

_Zerg Mana – 237,350/1,000,000_

I think my eyes just bugged out of my head. I really do. How in the world did I jump from 64,000 to 237,350!? At this rate, we'll be ready to reach the next level tommorrow! I shook my head. With this much mana… I'm not even sure what to do with it all! I guess I'll just keep doing what I've been doing.

Still snuggled in Cuddles arms, I worked out the mental math needed for further expanding the Hive cluster. I still can't believe I haven't hit ocean yet. I've only covered one entire biome and most of five others. I did finally hit the edge of the Desert, to find a mountain biome. It'll be difficult to expand the creep into that though. I'm seriously considering having my Overlords flatten the place and dropping off the entire mountain into the Zerg Mana Pool. That ought to increase my mana even more!

Let's see. 300 Drones would cost me 15,000. That's hardly a drop in the amount I have now. 300 hatcheries however… would cost… 120,000. Good grief! I'd still have a little under half the mana I have available if I did that! Unless I did it twice? Let's see that's 600 Drones, 30,000 mana for the drones, 240,000 for the hatcheries. Ok, I can't do it twice, but I can come close… or I can only do it once and spend the rest on Overlords. Maybe I'll come close to mapping the planet at that rate.

Sounds like a plan to me. 300 drones and an hour later, I have 102,350 mana, and 300 hatcheries growing. By the time they're finished tonight, I'll have covered all five biomes and then some. Now for the Overlords. With all the larvae I have access to, it doesn't even take me longer than half an hour to have 1,023 Overlords spawned, and my supply is now 18/5465, and my mana is back down to 50. Just for the heck of it, I set the entire horde to work tearing down the mountain and depositing the contents into the Zerg Mana Pool. Still, it's awkward for Overlords to fit into the Hatcheries so I add to my future plans for changing the Hatcheries by adding an opening to the top of them as well.

With that bit finished, I settle in to nap in Cuddles arms. There really isn't anything else to do after all. I can explore this world to my hearts content through the Overlords, and boy can I tell you that watching a mountain range get stripped down to flat land, even while boring to watch after a while, is still kind of heady. I have the power to destroy mountains. Crazy I tell you. Even so, I can't wait to level up tomorrow, or the day after at most. Who knows what's out there amongst the stars. Well, I can't wait to find out!

All of the Queens except Cuddles heads out to lay more Creep Tumors. Cuddles and I just stayed at the Hatchery and, well, cuddled. What can I say, I felt lazy today, not that I'd been doing anything seriously strenuous apart from that mining operation really.

Later on in the day, something interesting had happened. One of my Overlords had finally reached the end of the mountain range and found a Plains biome, and along with it, a village! I'm still surprised there wasn't a single village or temple in the desert biome, but you can't have them all I guess. Still, I want to see the village for myself. Maybe talking with the locals might be interesting.

Setting off towards the village via Overlord with Cuddles, we make it there by late afternoon. Asura met us there. The other Queens had decided to continue on laying Creep Tumors for now, though they might come by later, depending on how the villagers react to us.

Unfortunately it wasn't too good. As soon as the Villagers spotted my Queens, it only took mere seconds for the village to look like a ghost town. They'd even thrown up an iron golem, though so far we weren't actually near it so it hadn't attacked us. I ordered the Queens back and approached the village cautiously.

"Hello?" I called out. I didn't get an answer. Keeping a careful eye on the golem, I approached a door I'd seen a villager flee into and called out once again, "Hello? We mean no harm." I didn't get an answer, but a villager did come to the door. Glancing about, it asked, "Are the monsters gone?" I'd say he or she, but they all look to have the same gender, but that can't be right since they do have kids.

I nodded and said, "Don't worry. Those weren't actually monsters. They won't hurt you, but I've ordered them to stay back for now."

The villager's unibrow rose and he asked incredulously, "You can control those things?" I nodded and said, "I can. They're quite friendly once you get to know them."

The villager hesitated, then opened the door and came to stand next to me. The other villagers, seeing this, came out as well, some curious, many cautious and keeping a wary eye on me.

"Who are you, stranger?" asked the initial villager who I'd talked to.

"The name's Matthew. It's nice to meet you…"

"Thomas Farmer. Likewise. I've not seen anyone like you before. Did you come from another village?"

I shook my head and said, "I come from the forest beyond those mountains, er, well what used to be mountains. Beyond the desert behind the mountains too. There's a forest there, where my people live. I'm the leader, and while they might not look like me, I promise you they're a friendly bunch." I turned and pointed, "Those are two of my Queens. They'd like to come say hello if you don't mind."

The villagers had followed my finger and spotted Cuddles and Asura, waiting right where I'd told them to. The villagers seemed frightened, but Cuddles waving wildly once I'd pointed them out while Asura rolled her eyes at her seemed to mollify them a bit. After a moment, Thomas said, "So long as they're friendly, we would not mind meeting them."

I smiled and said, "Excellent. Am I correct in assuming you're the leader of this village?" For the villagers benefit, I beckoned to my Queens and they started approaching. Some shied away, tensing as if ready to bolt for their doors. I wanted to point out that if they wanted, their wooden houses wouldn't have stopped my Queens from tearing this village to the ground if they wanted to, but I don't think that would make me very many friends.

Asura was the first to reach us, and said, "Hello." Cuddles, who was still waving, said brightly, "Hi everyone!" I chuckled at her antics. It broke the ice nicely though, and some of the villagers came forward to speak to them, even offering to trade. In answer to my question, Thomas Farmer replied, "I'm not the leader of this village. Our village, along with others like it, are collections of families that work together to survive, fulfilling each position we can. If something must be decided, then the leader of each family comes together to decide what is best for the village."

I nod at his answer, impressed. "It must be quite the ideal setup, running a village like that." Thomas shrugged and said, "We get by. It's not easy though. Every night we still lose some to the monsters. If it weren't for the iron golem and our ability to reproduce quickly, we would have all died long ago." I nodded at this, then asked, "Why don't you just build walls to keep the monsters out?"

Thomas shook his head, "No good. The monsters spawn so long as there is darkness available. In the past, other villagers tried to trust walls to save them. It never worked."

I shrugged and said, "So not even walls and filling the interior with torches would work? With no shadows inside the walls or on the tops of them either, you wouldn't have to worry about monsters spawning inside your walls anymore." I'd done the same thing to protect villages in Minecraft before after all.

Thomas seemed to think a moment, then responded slowly, "That… could work. But we don't have the manpower to build walls unfortunately." I grinned and pointed off in to the distance towards the mountains that are slowly but surely collapsing thanks to the Overlords. Thomas looked and shook his head gaping, "Never in my life have I seen anything like that. It's been going on all day, yet I can hardly get over it." Thomas turned back to me and asked, "Are those more of your people? What are you exactly?"

I smiled and answered, "We are the Zerg, and we're your new neihbors. My Overlords can tear down a mountain and can also forge just about anything inside themselves. They can build you a wall around your village brick by brick. If I provide the wood and coal, can you make the torches?"

Thomas again seemed to think on this, then responded, "Your offer is very appreciated Matthew. If you can do this, what would you want in return?"

"Peace, friendship, open trade. We're just trying to be friendly neihbors, and good neihbors don't let their friends die from a mild case of zombies."

Thomas nodded and said, "Come, I will gather the family elders and we will discuss this."

It didn't take all that long to gather all the Elders together. There are only six families in the village. After Thomas had gathered them all, he brought us to the stone chapel near the center of the village. Once gathered, Thomas explained my offer. There were a few arguing for and against this. One pointed out that torches don't last forever, at most a day, and since they're needed at night, they'd only really last for two nights if dowsed in the morning then relit. The sheer amount of wood required to light up the entirety of the village would be inconcievable (this coming from the village historian). His argument really was sound until I'd pointed out that my people had torn down an entire mountain range in little less than a day. The sheer amount of wood I could collect for them would be astronomical, and yes I did feel some satisfaction throwing big words back at the slightly snobbish learned historian, petty as it was. I could even tell that he would have to go back to his books just to look up the word I'd used.

Long discussion cut short, everything was agreed upon. All trades offered to the Zerg would be at huge discounts upon completion of the wall and delivery of the wood and coal, and we would have a very good basis for becoming allies. The historian then took my information, including my title as Overmind along with the names of my Queens and such, to document this historical moment. I did as he asked, though part of me still wants to smack him upside the head for being rude. Any more of this, and I'd ask Thomas for the right to do so! I'd do it anyway, but I really am trying to make friends here, and I doubt the village will take kindly to me smacking one of their few members over the head. Then they could blame his obvious brain damage on me!

Discussion over, I directed a few Overlords to deposit the materials I'd been having them collect since the start of the discussion. They'd even been able to form the wall sections inside of themselves by smelting them down and using the interiors of their bodies as presses. Not even an hour later, the walls were completed, sunk into the ground, and even had stairs formed so that the villagers could climb to the top to light the torches up there too. True to my word, I piled up as much wood as they could hold in a corner of the village, in stick form. The pile reached the top of the wall, and unless I miss my guess, would probably last them the next five years if they were careful not to burn through the lot. I even had a stone overhang formed over where the wood would go so that lightning wouldn't hit it.

That finished, I left the village feeling quite satisfied with myself. Asura and Cuddles said their goodbyes, Cuddles to a chorus of awww's since she'd been a big hit with the kids. Asura had been more interested in devouring their library and questioning the historian on past events. To my immense relief, their books had no mention of HIM, which makes it all the more likely that he doesn't really exist. By the time we reached the Hive cluster, night had fallen, the 300 hatcheries had finished, and the sheer amount of creep visible had been astonishing. The Overlords had also finished tearing down the mountains and depositing the gathered material, and now were spread out evenly over the Creep, and then some. I also stationed a few to the village to keep an eye on things, as well as two of my Zerglings, that I kept waiting in the Overlords. At the first sign of trouble, they would deploy and slaughter any monster trying to threaten the village.

With everything taken care of finally, I crawled back into my bed of Queens and slowly fell asleep.

-END CHAPTER-

Overmind mana – 100/100

Zerg Mana – 50/1,000,000

Zerg Supply – 18/5465

Units:

1 Overmind

1079 Overlords

0 Drones

11 Zerglings

6 Queens (Broodmother)

Structures:

551 Hatcheries

1 Spawning Pool


	11. Chapter 11

_Zerg Mana – 713,530/1,000,000_

_Mana required for Evolution: ACQUIRED._

_Evolve to Level 2?_

Well it seems to be the day! I wonder how long it'll take to evolve? Hopefully not too long. Stretching, I sat up and looked at each of my Queens. They're all arrayed before me looking visibly excited. I smiled and asked, "Shall we level up now?" A chorus of affirmatives met this. They really are excited. Nodding, I turned to Asura and asked, "Is everything finalized for what we want changed?" She nodded, visibly trying to restrain herself. It's really amazing just how much their personalities have blossomed in just the few short days since I'd given them free will. Before, I would have a group of devoted, doting slaves, willing to sacrifice everything for the Overmind without a second thought. Now, I have a group of diverse, happy, devoted girls willing to give there all to survive and make me and the swarm happy. After all, I don't want or need sacrifices. I do, however, want and need six lively Queens ready and willing to stand at my side.

I nodded, then as an after thought I asked, "Just how long will the evolution take place anyways?"

Asura answered, "24 hours unless there's trouble involved with any of the alterations. Then we'll have to figure out between ourselves how to incorporate the change, alter it, or let it go for now."

I nodded and said almost to myself, "An entire day eh? Better eat, drink, and use the bathroom now."

After doing just that, I nodded to my Queens. I'd already called in all of my Overlords to the central hive. By the time this is finished, it'll be this time tommorrow. I hope I don't lose any Overlords to creepers during the night. Then again, maybe I won't have to worry about that at all. I remember the Mutalisks in game, when the evolved into Guardians, the egg sac would just float in the air. It is interesting though that leveling up literally evolves the entire swarm at once. It is a rather dangerous weakness though. For an entire 24 hours, my Swarm is going to be completely vulnerable. I'm not sure how to feel about that at all.

Well, it's too late to back out now. Too much at stake. We need this evolution. Taking a deep breath and letting it out, I refocused on the blinking words in my vision.

_Evolve to level 2?_

_Yes._

As soon as the choice was made, an egg sac bubbled up from the ground beneath me and enveloped my body. It then fills with liquid, and I close my eyes to it. I wasn't really sure what to expect but drowning in the sac was not one of them. Before I can think of fighting my way out, a jolt goes through my body, forcing the liquid into my lungs. I nearly freak, until I realize that I can still breath. It just feels weird.

Relaxing my body, I let the egg sac do its work. To my immense gratitude, I can still see everything through my Overlords, despite them being in sacs themselves. Also to my relief is that they're all still up in the air. With all my units out of reach of any of the monsters of this world, I felt great relief and finally relaxed.

_Evolution Level 2_

_New Buildings:_

_Lair (Hatchery obsolete)_

_Evolution Chamber_

_Baneling Nest_

_Roach Warren_

_Hydralisk Den_

_Spine Crawler_

_Spore Crawler_

_New Units:_

_Zergling - Baneling_

_Roach_

_Hydralisk - Lurker_

_Overlord - Overseer_

_New Evolutions:_

_Zergling Metabolic Boost – Upgrades Zerglings to Speedlings_

_Zergling Adrenal Glands – Increased attack speed_

_Overlord/Overseer Pneumatized Caraspace – Increased Speed_

_Overmind Lv 2_

_Health – 200/200_

_Mana – 500/500_

_Abilities:_

_Spawn Lair (100 Mana) – Grows a Zerg Lair at your current location (12 hours)_

_PSI Assault (1 Mana) – Casts a focused PSI attack at one enemy _

_PSI Storm (50 Mana) – Casts a localized storm of PSI energy_

_PSI Guantlet Lvl 1 (Passive) – Mana Above 0; Strength increased by factor of 10_

_PSI Armor Lvl 1 (Passive) – Mana Above 0; All attacks do 25% less damage_

_PSI Sensor (Passive) – Mana Above 0; Able to detect cloaked, burrowed, and hallucinated units_

_Mandatory Evolutions Complete_

_Access the Zerg Genetic Archive?_

Huh. Is this where I can change the Zerg evolutions myself? Let's find out.

_Yes._

_Zerg Genetic Archive:_

_Input Command_

_:Ummm… edit Zerg Lair?_

_Zerg Lair Accessed. What changes would you like to make?_

_:Huh, this is almost like using the Command Prompt in Windows. Weird. _

_Unknown Command._

_:Oh right, Zerg Lair… Give Zerg Lair the Queen's… no, the Hydralisk's Needle Spines. Four of them on each of the Lair's… tusks._

_Command accepted._

_:Well that's weird as hell. Along with the words, I can see the Zerg Lair itself. I can even shape the appearance in my mind, and the picture changes along with it. It's almost like using the Spore Editor._

_Unknown command._

_:Oh right… Give Zerg Lair a roof entrance and the Overseers sensors. Also, have the Zerg Lair store the larvae in its interior, only expelling them when they're commanded to create new units if they're too big to fit in the Lair itself._

_Command Accepted._

_Oh, also give each Lair the ability to provide supply like the Overlords._

_Command accepted._

_:Great! Can you also double the amount of supply a Lair provides?_

_Unable to comply. Cerebrate required._

_:Crap! Ah well… Change the overall color scheme of my zerg to pitch black... with very dark red as a secondary color. _

_Command accepted._

_:Sweet… Change Zerg Armor to incorporate Adamantium._

_Unable to comply. Evolution Chamber required._

_:Dang it... Change Zerg Queen's to have the appearance of a perfect human. Use subject Sarah Kerrigan as a base. Refer to the Queens themselves for customized appearance._

_Command Accepted_

_:Change Zerg Queens by giving them access to their own mana pools and all of my current abilities._

_Unable to comply. Cerebrate required._

_:Crap… what can I change for the Queens then?  
_

_Armor, Weapons, and Abilities given by physical means already available to the swarm can be distributed freely without any changes (Changes within a certain margin only available with Evolution Chamber). Removal of any parts removes function of that part from whole. Overall shape, color, and general appearance can be edited within a certain margin without changing the function of the part._

_:Wow… that was… strangely helpful. That also explains why I can't give the Queens any of my abilities or mana pool yet. Those seem to be mental rather than physical._

_Unknown Command_

_:Dang it. I can't even think out loud without this thing taking it as a command. How annoying. What are the functions of the Overlord's appendages?_

_Overlord appendages give ability to grab objects._

_:Oddly specific. And the Overlords have ten of them. Since they don't have anything to do with their sensors, change… no, add two of the original Queen's Talons to the Overlord and Overseer._

_Command accepted_

_:Ah crud. I just realized… give the new Zerg Queens the ability to hide their weaponized appendages beneath the skin on their back and allow the Queens to edit this feature as well._

_Unable to comply. Evolution Chamber required._

_:Sigh… anything else to edit… can I edit the Lurkers to give them the ability to use their spikes above ground?_

_Unable to comply. Evolution Chamber required._

_:Thought so. Well, can I at least give all Zerg units the ability to move underground?_

_Unable to comply. Evolution Level 3 required._

_:Well at least it's coming up… what else to add… can I change spore crawlers to target air and ground?_

_Unable to comply. Evolution chamber required._

_:Dang it! Well, that's alright I guess. It just occurred to me that spine crawlers do more damage anyway. Can spine crawlers be changed to target air and ground?_

_Command accepted._

_:The hell? I guess they always could target both then… but then why would you even need Spore Crawlers?_

_Spine Crawler air attack range is less than Spore Crawler range._

_:Huh. I guess that makes sense. Can that be changed so that both have equal range?_

_Unable to comply. Evolution Chamber required._

_:Noted… what else to change… Oh! What is required to be able to assimilate new creatures into the Zerg?_

_Zerg Spawning Pool and Evolution chamber required._

_:Perfect. That means I can assimilate Endermen soon. I can still assimilate new creatures even if they're dead right?_

_Zerg strains must be complete to assimilate into the swarm. Dead creatures only give partial strain. Multiple subjects required until new strain is complete._

_:Hm. That makes a lot of sense. Anything else… can Banelings be changed to survive their own detonation?_

_Unable to comply. Cerebrate required._

_:Figures. What about Hydralisks? Can their weapon be changed to be full auto rather than burst fire? Wait, of course it can't. That's changing the function of a weapon. That would require an Evolution Chamber._

_Correct._

_:Alright. All that's left is me then. I want the ability to burrow as well as Transfusion. I also want the Hydralisk's needle spines. I also want caraspace armor, though I want it retractable when not in use, also I want to be able to retract only parts of it if I want. I want my appearance to stay the same though when the armor is retracted. I also want to be able to go without sleep, and I want the ability to switch my libido on and off._

_Burrow, Transfusion, needle spines, and caraspace armor added to the Overmind. Sleep requirement removed. Unable to comply with armor retraction or libido control. Cerebrate required._

_:Dang it! Ew… ok, I can't think of any way to make a glorified hole the size of my torso in my skin filled with spines look at all appropriate. I'd like to remove the Needle spines._

_Command accepted._

_:Much better. The armor isn't bad either, but it needs something… use Prototype 1 full armor as appearance base. _

_Command accepted._

_:Looking good. Remove helmet and gauntlets. Streamline the armor to look form fitting… perfect. Now I can still wear clothes over it, but still look cool as heck. Can Sarah Kerrigan's invisibility be added to myself or my Queens?_

_Unable to comply. Zerg Strain and/or Cerebrate required._

_:Dang it. Well… I can't think of anything else at the moment… umm… how do I… Exit the Zerg Genetic Archive?_

_Command Accepted_

_Overmind Lv 2_

_Health – 400/400_

_Mana – 500/500_

_Abilities:_

_Spawn Lair (100 Mana) – Grows a Zerg Lair at your current location (12 hours)_

_PSI Assault (1 Mana) – Casts a focused PSI attack at one enemy _

_PSI Storm (50+ Mana) – Casts a localized storm of PSI energy over a wide area; more mana increases size and damage_

_PSI Guantlet Lvl 1 (Passive) – Mana Above 0; Strength increased by factor of 10_

_PSI Armor Lvl 1 (Passive) – Mana Above 0; All attacks do 25% less damage_

_PSI Sensor (Passive) – Mana Above 0; Able to detect cloaked, burrowed, and hallucinated units_

_Burrow – (0 Mana) – Go underground; unable to move; can only be detected by sensors_

_Transfusion – (50 Mana) – Instantly transfer 125 health to biological unit or structure_

Well, at least the armor increased my health. That was my last thought before I blacked out.

-END CHAPTER-

Overmind mana – 500/500

Zerg Mana – 213,530/1,000,000

Zerg Supply – 18/5465

Units:

1 Overmind

1079 Overlords

0 Drones

11 Zerglings

6 Queens (Broodmother)

Structures:

551 Hatcheries

1 Spawning Pool


	12. Chapter 12

_Zerg Mana – 1,009,650/1,000,000,000_

_Zerg Supply – 18/8220_

_Mana required for evolution: 500,000,000_

My eyes popped open wildly. A Half BILLION just to get to level 3!? If this sets any precedent, it's going to be half a Trillion to get to level four, then 500 Trillions just to get to level 5! Worse though, if I need half a trillion to get space born… I'm going to be here a looooong time…

Well… I'm finally at level 2 at least. Looking down at myself, I note with dismay that my clothing got shredded by my armor. The most I have left is just a glorified loin cloth, but I rip that off since the armor forms a cod piece over my cock that can slide open so I can still pee and all that, so it's not like a loincloth would help with modesty anyway. No, I can't get much more modest than I am now considering the only part of my uncovered is my head and hands. Since I'm stuck with this armor until level five, unless I can do something fancy regarding the Evolution Chamber. At least it's not uncomfortable to lay on, being pretty form fitting. It's not spandex certainly. More like a black body suit than anything. The cool thing about it though is that I can feel things touching it as if it were my skin. That's really cool.

Looking around myself, I noted that the lair's inner chamber is twice the size of the Hatchery. Probably make it way easier for Overlords to float down in from the ceiling. Not that they needed to though. Overlords are pretty much better used as gatherers than drones ever were. Still, drones are the building blocks for my Hive, literally, so it's not like I'll ever stop using them.

It's at this point when all thinking on my part stopped. In walked my Queens, one after the other. In the distant part of my mind, I would have been highly amused that they seem to be acting like they're on a catwalk, but I'm too awestruck to notice that.

What I do notice is the sheer beauty of my Queens. All of them have similar figures that would've given Aphrodite a run for her money. They have their hair down, which looks better than other hair styles in my opinion. I can hardly believe the way they've done their armor though! For all intents and purposes, it looks more like it's been painted on to their bodies, accenting every curve without blatently showing everything off. I may have made mine form fitting, but their armor takes the cake! And the attention to detail they went to is insane! They've taken beauty of the female form to a whole other level.

Of course, they could only do this for the waist up really. The ability to lay creep tumors requires those spider bodies of theirs, and their bladed bone wings give them an almost demonic presence to them, especially with the new color scheme. They're still beautiful, but more along the lines of succubi rather than angels. If this is the way they're going with their appearance, I can hardly wait to see what they'll do at level five when we have a cerebrate genetecist available.

All of them seem to have tried to become personifications of their names. Joy's hair is wild and playful, reaching to her shoulderblades, and almost the literal color of sunshine. I believe the actual color name is dirty blonde though. Her skin color indicates she's spent a long time tanning on the Beach, and her eye colors are a bright, almost glowing, green. Overall, she looks like the personification of a california babe.

Rose and Snow seem to have gone for the Sephiroth look with their hair and skin color. Rose's hair is a long sleek and shiny rose red, and she has the same color for her eyes. Snow's hair is almost pure white and her eyes are an ice blue. Like Joy their eye colors seem to glow, until I realize with a start they really are glowing! The both of them really do look like Twins though, even if Rose is actually the younger of the two. They look like a cross between Japanese and European nobility.

Faye though, could pass off as a nearly identical twin sister for her name sake. It's rather startling, but there are just enough differences that I won't be mistaking the two for each other anytime soon. Her hair is sleek black and silky looking and reaches down to her midback. Unlike Rose and Snow, her hair is more like a cape that spreads all along her back, rather than the sleek straight curtains of her two younger sisters. Her eye color is what really sets her apart from her name sake though. She's chosen a honey gold color that glows, just like the rest of her sisters. Her skin color matches her name sake perfectly though, a nice latin brown color which I like very much.

Cuddles looks like the poster child of European nobility. Her skin is very fair, with high cheek bones and a somewhat pointed chin. Her blonde hair has a silky wave like look and her eyes are literally the color of glowing saphires. Unlike the nobility who seem to never smile, Cuddles has a permanent playful smile adorned on her face. All of my girls are smiling really, but hers seems to be a permanent feature on her. Even Joy doesn't have a smile on ALL the time like Cuddles does.

Finally Asura comes through the entrance to the Lair, behind the rest of them. I'd say saving the best for last, but all of them are too beautiful both inside and out to say any of them are better than the others. Almost the counterpart to Cuddles, Asura is the picture of Japanese nobility. She could define the height of a true Geisha's beauty. Unlike most Geisha, her hair is a deep ocean blue that frames her face and pools about her shoulders and back, and skin so white it almost rivals Snow's hair. If I had to say she looks like anyone, I'd have to say she looks like an adult Hyuuga Hinata with bluer hair and darker lavender eyes that glow.

The true beauty, in my opinion though, is their smiles. Each light up their faces in different ways and nearly surpasses their own beauty outright. It's a sight I could get very used to, seeing them smiling like that.

All six came up to me and twirled their hair around them much like a model would and Asura asked, "Do you like?" I nodded dumbly, gulping, which caused them in turn to giggle, which did VERY interesting things to their anatomy. I can only thank God for the foresight to give myself room for growth down there, or my armor might have popped open on it's own from the pressure, and that would have been extremely embarassing. Not that it isn't already embarassing though. I can tell through our connection that they already know just what affect they're having on me down there.

Cuddles then lifted me up and hugged me tightly, bringing all the others into a large group hug with me squished in the middle. "Do you like?" Asura whispered in my ear. I nearly shook my head off nodding in response. My throat felt very dry, and I laid my head on the nearest shoulder available, which happened to be Cuddles of course, and basked in the warmth both inside and out that my Queens are giving me.

How did I get so lucky to have such amazing women in my life? I can't help but be in awe of the entire situation. Here I am, hugged on all sides and literally drowning in feelings of love and affection. Just how did I get this lucky? I never get this lucky! I gave these beautiful women free will, and still they've chosen to give everything they are to me. Nope, there's no denying it. I am one lucky son of a gun, and I will cherish these ladies with all of my being.

After a time the group hug ended, much to my disappointment. Cuddles made up for it though as she has yet to set me down, and we went outside to see the rest of the Swarm. Everything looks bigger, and to be frank, much more bad ass. I always thought Brown with a secondary color of purple looked kind of dumb on the Zerg. Now my Lairs stand out from the sky like nightmare fortresses on the Horizon. The four corner tusks surrounding them sway to and fro, looking for enemies to pepper with the hale of spikes built into them.

The creep itself is now more a shade of black with dark red veins interwoven in. The Overlords themselves look like great floating Cthulu monsters. To think, just a change in color is all it took to make the entire Swarm look that much more badass. The fleet of Overlords overhead is so thick you can hardly see the sky, and I can't help but grin as they play with their brand new talons, glistening and ready to pierce foes. While not the most dangerous creatures in my Swarm, they're certainly not helpless bags of flesh in the sky anymore.

Thanks to making the Lair's effectively Overlords in their own right means I can already see the entirety of my land, so my fleet of Overlords can be better put to use as scouts, gatherers, and shuttles, rather than stationary eyes. I send one back to the village with two speedlings to resume defense of the village. I hope nothing happened to them yesterday. Most of the rest, I send out with orders to flatten mountains and get the lay of the land. The last few I order them to follow us about as our personal shuttles/guardians. Looking around, surrounded by buildings and creatures literally armed to the teeth, I almost want to dare something to attack me now. There's no way we'll have any worries about being out at night under cover of the Hive cluster ever again, and that's not even considering what I can do with my new abilities. I can hardly wait to test them out.

First things first though, I order four drones and have them start building an Evolution Chamber, Hydralisk Den, Roach Warren, and Baneling nest respectively. The evolution chamber should be done in half an hour, but the rest'll take an hour. As for the cost, the evolution chamber is 75 mana and the other 3 are 300 mana each. That's 1275 mana dropping me down to 1,008,375 mana. And to think it wasn't even that long ago that 1275 mana was a lot… now it's barely a drop in my mana pool. Insane… and to think, what would a PSI storm be like if I put a million mana behind it? It'd probably be enough to destroy a planet, and by level five I'm supposed to be capable of amassing, not a trillion, but multiple trillions of mana? Such an open ended attack is surely ripe for abuse! There's got to be some catch!

That's about the time I tried to imagine what would happen to me if I tried to channel that much energy through me at once. Shuddering, I realized I'd probably be vaporized… well, if push comes to shove, I can at least be assured that if I'm ever about to die and there's no hope left, I can always take all my enemies with me, provided no innocents are nearby.

Now, as to expansion… well, it seems I'm going to have to start doing this on a far grander scale that's for certain. Just for kicks, I pump out a thousand drones. That's 25,000 mana sunk, dropping me to 983,375 mana, which is still a rather ridiculous amount. Even so, a thousand lairs is going to cost me 500,000 mana. It'll definitely be worth it though. And with that thought, I order the massive horde out on a great expansion, with the Overlords as vanguards. It's probably going to take all day for the drones to get to new spots on their own, so changing plans on the fly, I order the Overlords to pick up the drones and drop them off at the new sites for the Lairs. That should drop the time by a couple hours hopefully. Still, that leaves me with 483,375 mana to play with. Well, the main thing I need in order to expand into the Nether is Hydralisks, but before I go there, let's wait for the Evolution chamber and see what it takes to get some Adamantium mixed into the Zerg armor.

Half an hour later, I'm directing the Queens to my new Evolution chamber, bringing the Adamantium we have with us. I'm not sure what to make of the building to be honest. It looks like a cross between a slug, a sausage, and a boil, with a large protrusion jutting up like a tower on the side. All in all, it looks like a cross between the appearance the Evolution Chamber had in both Starcraft games. It's gross looking, but I can easily see it'd be much worse if I hadn't changed the color of it.

Entering inside, we found ourselves in the first of three large chambers. This first one is filled with some kind of green mist, with a pool of green slime sitting in the middle, looking very much like a toxic waste spill. It's even pulsing with light too. The second chamber is filled with eggs and large tubes of liquid. The last looks like it's full of towers of brain matter all in neat rows. I'm a little revolted by the place to be honest. I can't wait to get a Cerebrate Geneticist. Then I'd only have to deal with him/her/it, whatever, instead of having to actually come in here.

Cuddles set me down and I walked up to the pool, then looked back at them and asked, "Well, what now?" The girls shrugged helplessly and Asura responded, "We're still practically broodmothers, and brand new ones at that. We know how to take care of the Swarm in general, but anything specific like this is beyond us."

Palming my face, I look around deadpan, "So we're playing in a mad scientists laboratory with absolutely no idea what we're doing. This cannot end well." Sending prayers to the heavens that I would be proven wrong, I took one of the chunks of adamantium that we have and dropped it into the pool, hoping it would work something similar to the Zerg Mana Pool. The Adamantium hissed and bobbed up and down in the pool with no real visible effects. I scratched my head, then bent down and poked my finger in the stuff. Like the Spawning pool, it didn't affect me at all, though it does feel a little tingly.

Frustrated, I mentally access the evolution chamber itself, hoping it's command list will give me some idea of what to do. Unfortunately, the command list sat empty. Absolutely no commands could be given to the chamber itself. I pushed deeper, hoping to find something I could access through the Evolution Chamber with no success, though something from the chamber full of brain tissue did ping on my mental radar so to speak. Making my way over to there, I walked among the brain stuff till I found the central one that had pinged at me. I keep getting the feeling that I just walked into the Zerg equivalent of a server room. Usually one of the central servers would have some kind of access terminal or something. I can only hope I might find the same thing here.

Reaching the central bit of brain mass, I try to connect to it like I did earlier with the Evolution Chamber itself.

_Accessing the Zerg Genetic Archive_

_Input Command_

"YES!" I shouted. Rose and Snow both jumped, having been following closely behind me, feeling very protective. I think they may have assigned themselves the position as my bodyguards, or head bodyguards anyways. Asura has been filling in the position as my second and the lead diplomat along with Cuddles if that visit to the village was anything to go by. I don't know what Joy or Faye have assigned themselves as, but I suppose I'll find out at some point.

"What is it?" Asked Asura. I answered, "I've accessed the Zerg Genetic Library through this brain thing, just like I did when we leveled up. I should be able to make changes directly to the Zerg through this now, rather than waiting to level up like I was worried we would have to do. I don't want to have to wait till level three just to change anything."

_:Incorporate Adamantium into Zerg caraspace armor._

_Unable to comply. Adamantium not part of Zerg strains._

_:How do I add Adamantium to the Zerg strains?_

_Place subject Adamantium into the Evolution Chamber Analysis Pool then activate command to absorb subject Adamantium._

_:Absorb Subject Adamantium_

_Command Accepted. _

_Processing. Time to complete: 6 Hours_

Smiling, I stepped away from the brain console and said, "I was able to start the Evolution Chamber in absorbing the Adamantium. It'll take 6 hours before we can do anything else with it. What to do until then?..."

The other Queens looked at each other. Asura suggested, "You could test out your new abilities?"

Nodding, "Excellent idea!"

Rushing outside in my excitement, with my Queen's following, I wonder what to try first? It'd be nice if I had some targets. Casting around on my mental map, I figure you can't get a much better place to shoot than the pit we'd made a few days ago. Mentally conveying to my Queens what I plan to do, we all board an Overlord and a few minutes later, we're at the edge of the pit. Standing here looking in, it's kind of foreboding, especially considering how deep it is. I wonder if I should direct some of the Overlords flattening the land down for the creep to fill it back up? After pondering the idea for a moment, I decide to do just that, after I've tested out my new abilities.

First things first, I'll start with the easiest. Activating burrow, my body sinks below the ground feet first. I don't understand how I'm still breathing though. I can't move an inch and there's dirt up my nose, yet I can still breath. This doesn't seem physically possible. Maybe, since the Zerg can survive out in space, I only think I've been breathing? Or maybe I just don't need to anymore and only do so because I haven't taken away the ability to yet.

Unburrowing, I ask the Queens in general, "Do you guys have the ability to breath? It looks like you do, but you can survive in space to right?"

"We can breathe, we just don't need to." Answered Asura, confirming my theory. Nodding, I turned back to the pit, and aiming at the far side, I cast PSI Assault. A burst of white light materialized in front of me, then just as quickly winked out. It extended out from me by about roughly 30 yards. Not exactly long range, but fairly decent. Now for the big one.

Directing my aim to the far side of the pit, I cast PSI Storm. A large web of rippling white light, almost like lightning. The sound it makes is exactly what I expected yet at the same time not, since I can hear it twice with both my ears and my mind, giving it a weird echo effect. It lasts for about ten seconds, then abruptly disapates. I can only imagine something walking into that would be shredded, and the sheer space it covered! I cast the smallest amount I could, namely 50 mana to cast that, and it covered about the same space as an entire football field! Aiming at the same spot, I increased the amount of mana I put into it by 25 and cast it again. Surprisingly, the size didn't increase at all, though the white light is brighter than before. I guess I won't be busting planets after all in that case, at least not at this level. Who knows what abilities I'll get in the next levels?

_Overmind mana – 374/500_

Well, there's only one power left that I want to test. I'd test my PSI Armor, but I don't really like the idea of hurting myself on purpose. So, turning to the nearest Queen, Joy, I tested out my PSI guantlets by picking her up. Joy squealed and her legs scrambled for purchase till I set her down. Needless to say I was rather amazed. Joy felt as if she had weighed practically nothing! Thinking about it, I realized that while normally I could lift roughly 100 lbs, maybe more since I never actually tested just how much I could lift, with my PSI Guantlets on, I could bench press 1000 lbs! I can actually lift half a freaking ton! That's insane! And the best part is, that's what I could lift before I became Zerg! Since my PSI guantlets multiply my physical strength rather than add on to it, if I increase my base strength with Zerg evolutions, I could easily double, if not triple my strength! Maybe more! The average Hydralisk can probably lift 400 lbs or so, maybe more, with it's Zerg enhanced strength. If I could lift 400 pounds on my own, then add PSI Guantlets on top of that, I'd be able to lift 2 tons! That's like, picking up cars and throwing them strength! Suddenly wearing armor originally based off of Prototype seems extremely appropriate. Better yet, if I can somehow recreate the abilities of the Black Light virus within the Zerg… the idea of the Swarm wielding that much power is almost obscene! Not to mention the ability to make ourselves look however we want is almost the jackpot in espionage, stealth, and surprise.

Wait a minute… don't the Zerg have the Changeling? Those things are already capable of taking the form of anything they want, and without the messy business of physically absorbing their disguise to boot! Quickly turning to Asura, I ask, "How do we build Changelings?" Asura blinked, surprised by my urgency, and answered, "They're produced by the Overseers. Why do you ask?"

Beginning to grin maniacally, I respond, "Because, if we can spread the ability to morph over the entirety of the Swarm, no one would literally see us coming. Ever. Say we're targeting an enemy hiding in the mountains. If we can morph ourselves to look like rocks, and were sneaky about it, we could have him surrounded and he wouldn't even know it! Worried our looks might scare away the locals, or we want to go incognito among the population? Then we morph ourselves to look like them! If we're worried a tougher enemy is about to blast us off the planet, morph the creep to look like regular ground, and our buildings to look like rocks, trees, and hills!"

As I continued in this vein, the eyes of my Queens grew wider and wider still. And I hadn't even finished.

"Imagine this, say you're facing an enemy who can't stand to be in light? Have a nearby Zergling morph into a lightsource such as glowstone! Of course, since Morph only changes our physical appearance, not our physical properties, it'd probably be a good idea to absorb a bunch of these things first. It'd be one thing to morph our hive to look like an enemy base so they won't attack us. But as soon as the enemy touches one of our buildings, the jig is up. Our buildings may look like theirs, but it won't feel like them. However, if we absorb the metal those buildings are made of, then include the physical properties of that metal on the surface of our morphed buildings nothing, probably not even sensors, will ever be able to tell the difference!"

I would have continued, but I couldn't seeing as I'm currently smothered by my Queens practically dog piling me in a rather tight group hug. They're practically singing my praises much to my embarassment, but it's not exactly unexpected. In one fell swoop, I'd practically guaranteed the safety and dominion of the entire Zerg Swarm from practically anything! I doubt even HE would be able to find us now. And, with my PSI Guantlets, I'm at least stronger than him now. I can't exactly turn invisible, but we've got the perfect camoflauge. Hard to find something if it looks like a hill, feels like a hill, smells like a hill, and tastes like a hill. Now I just need to become invulnerable, fly, and teleport, and I won't have to worry about HIM at all! Come to think of it, I can summon lightning better than he can! He can cast a single bolt. I can cast an entire football field's worth of bolts! I never thought it was possible, but I can actually see a point now where I could freely say his name and not have to worry anymore! Heck, if I infuse my skin with adamantium, then make it the same color as my regular skin, I wouldn't have to even bother with armor, and then I really would be invulnerable! Or, as close to it as you can get physically anyways. I pointed this out to my Queens and they inevitably hugged me harder. Good thing I don't have to breathe anymore or I would have suffocated a while ago!

After a while, I wondered if I shouldn't try and escape the hug. My Queens don't seem to be willing to let go of me anytime soon. I don't really have much else to do either. I had considered visiting the village, but this is honestly far more pleasant. I still don't feel very comfortable sitting so close to the pit though, so I direct an Overlord to reel us in and take us back to our Lair. It really is so very convenient having what amounts to extra bodies as extension to my own. I can just stay in this pile of snuggles and still be free to do whatever as an Overlord.

Actually, I haven't tried out what it's like to just run flat out as a Zergling. Taking over one of them, I split it from it's roaming patrol and after flexing a bit to get used to the body, I had it take off, zipping among and around the Lairs and the few sparse trees still standing that hadn't been knocked over. The speed is exhilarating, much better than trundling along as an Overlord, even if they are faster now. And the best part is, the Zergling seems practically inexhaustable! If only I had that as part of my body too. I should take that ability as well. Then again, maybe I already do have it from the level up. It's hard to exhaust yourself when your strength is so great that anything you do might as well be like moving feathers. I wonder how high I could jump? But then again, what about the landing? Eh, that could be a good test for the PSI armor. I'll wait till the Adamantium upgrade first though.

I spent a long time running around as that Zergling. So long in fact that before I knew it:

_Subject Adamantium processing complete._

Has it really been six hours already? Looking up towards the sun, it seems to be midafternoon. It really has been that long. Relinquishing control of the Zergling with orders to rejoin the patrol, I come back to my Queens and say, "The Adamantium is finished processing. Time to go to the Evolution Chamber." A chorus of groans met this statement and one of my Queens grumbled, "Can't you access the Brain console from here?"

I blinked at that. Can I? Using my mind's eye to follow the path back to that central brain console, I tried to access it that way.

_Accessing the Zerg Genetic Archive_

_Input Command_

Huh. It seems I can. "Nevermind. I can access it from here. Thanks for the suggestion." The Queens settled back in and relaxing, and I could feel their relief to not have to get up. I chuckled. My Queens are starting to get lazy.

_:Incorporate Adamantium into the caraspace armor of the Swarm, particularly the skin._

_Swarm evolution selected. Cost is 500,000 mana. Evolution time is 24 hours. Proceed?_

I blinked. Doing this would cost the exact same as the level two evolution of the swarm, and last as long as well? Why in the world?

_:Don't proceed._

_Command accepted._

_:Why would it cost 500,000 mana and last 24 hours to apply one evolution to the swarm?_

_500,000 is the minimum mana required to evolve the entirety of the swarm with a single type evolution. 24 hours is the minimum time required to ensure the evolution has no detrimental effects to the Swarm._

Well… that makes sense actually. One thing mentioned caught my attention though.

_:Single type evolution?_

_Evolving the swarm with one type of evolution costs 500,000 mana. Each additional type of evolution applied costs an additional 500,000 mana._

_:What are the different types of evolution?_

_The current evolutions available to the Zerg Swarm are: Physical and Psionic._

_:What is required to apply a psionic evolution to the Swarm?_

_Type 1 Psionic evolutions require: Evolution Chamber._

_Type 2 Psionic evolutions require: Evolution Chamber and Cerebrate._

_Type 3 Psionic evolutions require: Evolution Chamber and Cerebrate Genetecist._

_:What is the difference between Type 1, 2, and 3 Psionic Evolutions?_

_Type 1 Psionic evolutions are unaltered Psionic abilities assimilated into the Zerg Swarm._

_Type 2 Psionic evolutions are Psionic abilities altered to be more powerful after being assimilated into the Zerg Swarm._

_Type 3 Psionic evolutions are Psionic abilities developed and assimilated into the Zerg Swarm without any base evolution to be patterned after._

My eyes widened as far as they would go at that. With a Cerebrate Geneticist, I could create my own Psionic abilities from scratch!? That's… that's beyond insane! I have to wonder though…

_:What is the difference between a Cerebrate and a Cerebrate Geneticist?_

_A Cerebrate is servant to the Overmind and capable of commanding an entire brood of the Swarm no matter its size. Each Cerebrate houses a copy of the entire Zerg Genetic Archive and can manipulate it on the genetic level. Cerebrates are capable of being specialized according to their duties._

_A Cerebrate Geneticist is a Cerebrate that has specialized in manipulating the Zerg Genetic archive, capable of altering it on an atomic level, and possessing the ability to create different types of evolution from scratch based solely from theory. _

_:What are the different types of specializations for Cerebrates?_

_The specializations for Cerebrates available to the Swarm are: Geneticist. More Specializations require development by a Cerebrate Geneticist._

Well that's good to know. I need to know more about evolving the Swarm though.

_:What type of evolution is the ability, Morph?_

_The ability Morph is a physical ability. It allows for a Zerg to evolve into a different strain if the new strain evolved from that Zerg. _

O….k…. not what I wanted to know.

_:What are the abilities of the Changeling?_

_Changeling Abilities: Shapeshift._

_:What type of evolution is the ability, Shapeshift?_

_The Ability Shapeshift is a physical ability. It allows the Changeling to take the appearance of a target of similar size._

Well, I guess that means I won't be shapeshifting into a mountain any time soon. Note the sarcasm. After all, it'd be kind of obvious that the thing you'd shapeshift into would have to be similar in size, though I suppose it'd be nice to be able to shapeshift into a speck and not be noticed. If I can get a cerebrate to change Shapeshift to allow that would be kinda cool. Still though, I feel rather annoyed that I have to wait a day before I can do any evolutions. I don't have to sleep anymore either, so I can't use that to pass the time. Now I feel a bit foolish. I should've kept the ability to sleep instead of removing it entirely, like breathing. I'll have to fix that too.

For now though, I'm stuck. Without the mana, I can't evolve anything. I suppose I could hunt down a few raw materials and have the evolution chamber process it, but I can do that easily enough with an Overlord. With nothing better to do, I passed the time doing just that. After collecting samples of just about everything I could think of, I had the Overlord go to deposit it in the Evolution Chamber, but then I realized an Overlord wouldn't be able to get into the thing. Not even stretching it's limbs into the entrance helped.

With a sigh, I commanded a larvae to become a drone and had it take everything from the Overlord and drop it in the Evolution Chamber's Analysis Pool, then with nothing else left to do, I just left it there, then sent the Overlord back to its fellows floating up above our Lair. That done, I ordered the Zerg Genetic Archive, or ZGA for short, to process it all. Unlike the Adamantium which took six hours, most of the stuff was finished processing in just a few minutes. I guess it takes longer if the object being processed takes a long time to dissolve.

That done, I laid back with nothing else to do. Not long after, I make another mental note on my things to change checklist, to remove my ability to be bored. If there's one thing I can't stand while being awake, it's being bored. Casting about for something to do, I spent a good chunk of time flying about as an Overlord and running around as a Zergling. The latter of which I had a lot of fun with once I got the Zergling out of the Hive Cluster and out of the range of the Lairs. Then I got to run around baiting Creepers and practicing stalking up on different mobs.

After a while even that grew boring, and the area I'd been running around in had grown increasingly pockmarked. I'd definitely have to get the Overlords to fill that up before I could get the Creep to fill in the area. Heading back as the Zergling, it's almost night time now, and a good chunk of the 1000 lairs had finally finished, leaving 400 or so left to finish up.

Come night fall, the monsters started to appear and I watched in amazement as the Lairs mowed everything down. I'm really glad I'd put the needle spine launchers near the tops of the tusks, otherwise the Lairs might have accidently shot each other. Creepers were exploding, Skeletons and Zombies were dropping like flies. The few Endermen were literally warping everywhere to avoid the hail of spines, so I ordered the Lairs to ignore them, setting the Zerglings after them instead. As each one fell, I ordered the drone to drag the carcass into the Evolution Chamber to be processed. Unfortunately each Enderman only gave me about 15 to 20 percent of the genome, and after the first one, the second one offered a chunk of the genome already known. That became more and more common the more Endermen I'd caught. By the middle of the night I only had about 50 percent of the Enderman Genome unlocked.

The nice thing about the middle of the night though is that's when I got the days collected mana deposited, and by then all of the Lairs had finished.

-END CHAPTER-

Overmind mana – 374/500

Zerg Mana – 483,325/1,000,000,000

Zerg Supply –19/13220

Units:

1 Overmind

1079 Overlords

1 Drone

11 Speedlings

6 Queens

Structures:

1551 Lairs

1 Spawning Pool

1 Evolution Chamber

1 Baneling Nest

1 Roach Warren

1 Hydralisk Den


	13. Chapter 13

_Zerg Mana – 2,956,795/1,000,000,000_

_Zerg Supply – 19/13,220_

Wow that's nuts. I got that much even though not all of them had a full 24 hours to collect mana? I should probably have an income of about 4 million with a full day now. Especially since I can start immediately making more drones rather than waiting. Unfortunately, I've hit a problem. With my Overlords exploring full time now, I've finally discovered the Ocean, and I appear to have found myself on a peninsula with my only connection to land continueing south. Even if I were to spread my creep into the ocean, a 1000 more Drones would easily fill up every bit of land left on this peninsula and then I'd have to expand southward. The real problem is the fact that I can't just keep continuing the creep into the Ocean. I mean, I could after all, but once I hit a certain depth, I wouldn't be able to absorb any sunlight with the Creep anymore. It'd be like only getting light from the moon during the day, then practically nothing at night. It doesn't seem very cost effective. I'd try and make the creep float on top of the water, but that would cut out sunlight for any marine animals and plant life, killing a good chunk of the ecosystem, which would screw this planet's inhabitants over, and I don't want to do that.

As a sidenote, my Overlords have discovered seven other villages besides the one I'm defending and thirteen ruins of them. With my previous expansion, my protected village is surrounded by creep and I have to wonder what their reaction is to it. I need to go visit the villages tommorrow. At the very least my protected village doesn't need the walls, or Zerglings hovering overhead anymore, what with my Lairs peppering anything that could threaten them to death. I'll have to go talk to them about that later. They probably won't even need the torches anymore now. I wonder if the villagers would find the creep edible? That would make acceptance of it far easier.

Still, back to the problem of the Ocean. What would really solve this problem is if I could absorb glowstone into the creep and then infuse the creep with it. Then it wouldn't even matter if it's day or night, and wherever the creep is, no monster would be able to spawn there. It'd also double my income of mana, which is always welcome. Of course, I need to be careful, since infusing Creep with glowstone and making it glow will be a problem for stealth. Can't exactly hide a building disguised as a mountain if it's the only mountain surrounded by glowing grass.

Then again, what if I just infuse the underside of the creep with glowstone? No, then monsters would be able to spawn everywhere in my territory. In that case, if I could turn that glow of the creep off and on when necessary, that would be extremely useful. I don't know if I could pull that off without a cerebrate though. Only one way to find out. Querying the ZGA tells me that yes, I can pull off such a thing. But first I have to get glowstone. Time to expand into the Nether. But before I can do that, I need to evolve first.

Ordering the ZGA to infuse Zerg hide with Adamantium and giving every Zerg the ability to shapeshift is the next order of business. I also want the ability to sleep back, dang it! I'm also getting rid of my armor since I won't need it anymore. I spoke up to the Queens telling them what I'm about to do so they'd be prepared to make any changes they want. Unfortunately without a Cerebrate, I can't make shapeshift change our physical properties, just our appearance. That means my Queens will have to have bulkier armor to accomadate shapeshifting their lower halves into a more humanoid form. At least, that's what they thought until I mentioned I'm getting rid of my armor, and if they did as well, then they could shapeshift their spider bodies into their nonexistant armor. There was much hugging for this.

I'm going to need some kind of covering, but hopefully I should be able to shape shift some clothing.

Activating the evolution, I fell unconcious for the next 24 hours.

-END CHAPTER-

Overmind mana – 374/500

Zerg Mana – 2,456,795/1,000,000,000

Zerg Supply –19/13220

Units:

1 Overmind

1079 Overlords

1 Drone

11 Speedlings

6 Queens

Structures:

1551 Lairs

1 Spawning Pool

1 Evolution Chamber

1 Baneling Nest

1 Roach Warren

1 Hydralisk Den


	14. Chapter 14

_EVOLUTION COMPLETE_

_Overmind Lv 2_

_Health – 200/200_

_Mana – 500/500_

_Abilities:_

_Spawn Lair (100 Mana) – Grows a Zerg Lair at your current location (12 hours)_

_Burrow – (0 Mana) – Go underground; unable to move; can only be detected by sensors_

_Transfusion – (50 Mana) – Instantly transfer 125 health to biological unit or structure_

_Shapeshift – (0 Mana) – Take on the appearance of any target similar in size_

_Adamantium Armor – (Passive) – All physical type damage is blocked 100%_

_PSI Assault (1 Mana) – Casts a focused PSI attack at one enemy _

_PSI Storm (50 Mana) – Casts a localized storm of PSI energy_

_PSI Guantlet Lvl 1 (Passive) – Mana Above 0; Strength increased by factor of 10_

_PSI Armor Lvl 1 (Passive) – Mana Above 0; All attacks do 25% less damage_

_PSI Sensor (Passive) – Mana Above 0; Able to detect cloaked, burrowed, and hallucinated units_

_Zerg Mana – 8,943,280_

Well, it looks like I was right. With a full day to absorb light, the creep had provided me with an income of nearly 8 million mana. More importantly however, is that I'm currently completely naked, and surrounded by six females who are stirring awake just as I am, and who are also naked from the waist up. Turning away quickly, I activate Shapeshift to clothe myself. I figure I might as well go for clothing I've always wanted to wear, and the next thing I know, I'm in long black satin cargo pants with lots of pockets, a white silk shirt, and a black satin long sleeve over shirt that I left unbuttoned, along with black combat boots, golden arm bands glinting from the interior sleeves of the overshirt, and a silver necklace with a small gold medallion with the Triforce on one side and the symbol for light on the other. I may not be Tassadar, but I figure the Light Medallion, even if it's fake, has a lot of meaning for me anyway.

Also, this time when we went through the evolution, I changed my appearance. I may as well be a carbon copy of Tassadar now, only I didn't change my height, just my hair color, eye color, and my overall physique, as well as removing any blemishes and facial hair. I won't have to ever cut my hair again either. Between my change in appearance and my clothing, the only tell between me and Tassadar would be my height and eye color. While I had changed it, Tass has glowing eyes that are a bright blue, the original eye color of Protoss Tassadar in fact. For one, my new eyes don't glow, and now consist of two colors. Originally, my eyes had three rings, one dark green thin outer ring, a grey blue large inner ring, and a gold rust colored inner ring. Also, my right eye had a bulge connecting the outer ring to the inner ring. Now, my eyes are a solid saphire blue with a bright gold inner ring. All told I like my new eyes. Aside from appearance changes, now if I ever have to pass the time, I can go to sleep even if I don't need to sleep anymore. I did forget to remove my capacity for boredom, but I figure it'll allow me to stay productive at the least.

Once finished adjusting my clothing, I waited a few moments before turning back around. As expected, my Queens had shapeshifted their spider like bodies to form clothing of their own, but more in the style of form fitting caraspace armor like they'd already been wearing. They were born Zerg, so naturally they would be more comfortable keeping a Zerg like appearance, even if it is a form fitting armor that leaves nothing to the imagination, and now that they have human like legs to walk on, their sex appeal had increased enormously. I'm very glad that the illusion of clothing on my person is able to hide the awakening of junior.

My Queens smiled at me, feeling my approval for their new looks through our connection. It's unusual for me now since all my Queens are now my height. I had actually grown a bit used to them being bigger. Oh well. I'm glad I had decided not to change my height after all like I'd been contemplating doing, though I suppose it doesn't really matter that much. They'd probably just match my height no matter how tall I am.

For once, I get the chance to initiate a group hug, bringing Rose and Snow into my arms, causing the other girls to surround me as well. It's far easier to hug each other now that we're all the same size and don't have large protruding bodies getting in the way. After a while, I let go and the girls did the same.

Grinning, I said, "I think it's high time we took over the Nether." My Queens grinned as well and I got a chorus of affirmatives. Walking outside and in the direction of the Nether Gate we'd set up a number of days ago, I concentrated on going a little overkill and put 100 Hydralisks on order along with 100 drones. With Hydralisks costing 150 each, that comes to a grand total of 2000 mana spent for both. That still leaves me with a total of 8,941,280, so I'm in no danger of losing mana any time soon if ever.

I do know that I still need to keep up the expansion of the Hive, so I order another 1000 drones to finish off covering the peninsula in Creep and Lairs, as well as pushing further south. I'm a little worried that the curve of the coast I've seen so far means I'm on an oblong island, but hopefully by grabbing some glowstone, I won't have to worry about it.

_Zerg Mana – 8,893,280_

Huh, so if I don't bother with the math the ZGA will tell me anyway? That's kind of nice I suppose. Using the flint and steel sitting next to the portal, I light it up, and stand aside to let the Hydralisks through. Immediately we can hear the sound of explosions through the portal, but the armor does it's job, and the explosions are rather quickly silenced. I make a note to try and take a Ghast alive. Having the ability to shoot explosive fireballs is bound to be useful. On that note, I should probably try and catch a Blaze as well. Maybe catch a zombie as well to figure out how the flesh is animated without being alive. Might be useful to figure out, just in case any of my creatures gets injured despite their armor, not to mention if I can figure out how to reverse it, I might just be able to permanently remove Zombies as a threat here.

Stepping through the Portal after my Queens, I'm immediately glad that my clothing isn't actually real or I'd feel even more stifled than I already do. It is unbelievably hot in here! The Zerg may be able to handle Char easily, but it's still not very pleasant! Even more unpleasant is that we've only just got through and we've already hit our first snag. The Portal is unfortunately sitting on a ledge that's only just able to hold us all, and certainly isn't big enough to hold a Lair on top of that. Making my way to the edge, I look around only for more bad news. It seems this ledge is jutting over a large lake of lava and there's no easy way to get to any of the other ledges in this giant hellish cave. It seems the only direction to go is through the wall of rock behind the portal. While the Hydralisks may not have the speed of a Zergling, their large claws more than make up for it. At this point I really wish I had a Zerg strain built for digging though. The Hydralisks are making progress but it's slow going. I consider ordering up some Zerglings, but there really isn't enough room for anything more.

Going through the portal, I come back with my pickaxe and get to work alongside my Hydralisks. It's tedious work, and it takes a few hours, not helped by the Ghasts popping up on occasion to investigate the noise, but the lot of us finally make it through the cavern wall to thankfully find a number of ledges sitting over a large chunk of netherack easily big enough for a Lair or two to sit on. Finding a way down, I direct two of my drones forward, they set up to build two Lairs, and I direct the others to push the debris of Netherack into the lava. Thanks to that we ended up extending the stretch of land by a little but not by much. Either the lava is melting the netherack down to practically nothing, or it's quite deep!

As a test, I tried bringing water in a crude container into the Nether, but it literally evaporated as soon as it touched the air. Unbelievably troublesome. I'm starting to reconsider taking over the Nether and just getting the glowstone, Ghast strain, and Blaze strain, and getting the heck out! It doesn't help either that the only real light source in this place is the lava, which certainly isn't much, and if I even want to put down enough creep for it to matter, I'd have to find some way to get rid of the lava! Of course, if I do succeed in infusing the creep with glowstone then that might still be a viable option. Still though, lava is the lifeblood of the planet, and this is it's core. If I cover the entire top layer of all the lava here in obsidian I may just cool the planet enough to somehow send it on its way to destruction or something. Better to find some way to adapt to the extreme heat of the lava itself rather than change the lava, just like I don't want to cover the Ocean with a top layer of creep either.

Besides, I wouldn't be able to float Lairs on top of the water anyway, at least not in any way I know of. Unless I infused the Lair with that thing in the Overlords that allows it to fly… suddenly I have visions of hives floating in the sky. That would be seriously useful out in space, and it'd be practically stealing the idea of moving buildings from the Terrans.

I can just see the look on a Terran or Protoss player's face now. They're facing a Zerg hive they'd found with a scouting party and send an army after it, only to find slowly receding creep instead. Knowing the Zerg, they would wonder why a Zerg Hive would suicide like that, or bring in a sensor wondering if the buildings had somehow burrowed like the other Zerg… speaking of which that's an awesome idea in and of itself! Burrowing Zerg buildings would be amazing, especially if they could move underground! The buildings are alive just like the units, and if the units can move underground, why can't the buildings? And since the Lairs now have openings in the roof, units would still be able to be spawned and climb out onto the battlefield or just burrow their way out of the other entrances to the top! That'd also take away the need to worry about bad terrain too, since a mountain could easily just be used as shielding for a Lair or Hive! It's brilliant! It'd make it far easier to spread the creep in this place since the buildings could then just embed themselves in the walls. Unfortunately a change that big would probably require a Cerebrate to figure out how to pull it off. After all, if the Zerg building is underground, where is the creep going to come from?

That's when I had an epiphany. The Lair generates creep and the other buildings feed off of it, but the Lair must feed off of it too, so it generates creep and feeds off of it? Why can't the other Zerg buildings do the same? And for that matter, why is the Lair the only building capable of being built off the Creep? That's going to have to be changed. I'll have to look into that… right now! I was contemplating doing it later, but I'm not really doing anything at the moment.

Querying the ZGA proves that I can indeed have the buildings generate their own creep and be built off creep, but I'll have to wait to get a cerebrate in order to modify the burrow ability to be useable by the buildings, or have them fly like Overlords. I guess it's one thing to apply an ability in one thing unchanged to another, but in order to make any of the buildings burrow or fly, some heavy modifications would be needed.

At this point I've worked out the pattern quite nicely. If what I want the Zerg to do is something they already do, and is just a reapplication of it, then all I need to pull it off is the evolution chamber. If I have to modify the ability in any way to fit what I'm trying to do with it, then it requires a Cerebrate. If what I'm wanting is an ability that the Zerg just plain don't have yet, then it requires a Cerebrate Geneticist. Understanding this, I realize that I got really lucky that what I'd wanted by infusing Zerg hide with the adamantium was something the Zerg had already set precedent with. How else did they strengthen their armor in game? By making it progressively harder with new materials. If that hadn't been the case, I'd have to wait for a geneticist to be created before I could get my near invulnerable armor and weapons. That's another thing that made it easy for the Hydralisks to dig. Their blades practically carved through the Netherack like butter with their more densely packed Adamantium blades, though in a way this actually made it harder to dig as well since the blade was too sharp to catch on anything and rip away chunks of netherack.

Well, there's not much else to do here. I contemplate looking around for more areas to create Lairs on, but honestly, I just want to get out of this heat. It'll be a little less than 12 hours before the Lairs spawn anyway, and since I can't create an evolution chamber off of creep yet, I'll have to wait till they're done before I can start collecting anything. I would've collected some glowstone, but all the clusters of it are on the roof and I can't fly, nor do I desire to try tunneling down into it, accidently destabilizing the floor and falling into a pit of lava. It's already too hot as it is. I don't want to contemplate how hot it would feel in lava, even if it wouldn't burn me.

Leaving the Hydralisks there to guard the burrowed Drones, I head back to the Portal with my Queens, and calling down an Overlord, I have it transport us to the protected village. On the way I realize it might be a good idea to leave a defense force around the portal itself, so I order some of the Hydralisks to guard both ends of the portal as well. Ten at each side ought to do it. Too bad an Overlord couldn't fit through the Nether Portal, or getting that glowstone would've been easy.

Once at the village, I'm met again by Thomas Farmer, who didn't recognize me at first thanks to my changes, but once he did, he voiced his being understandably a little concerned about the creep and the presence of the Lairs outside the village.

"WHAT THE NETHER ARE THOSE THINGS!? They're frightening the villagers out of their minds! We've been too afraid to try and leave to hunt for more food than our grain stores since we saw those giant things shred those monsters apart! And yet you walk right by them without a care in the world? And then there's that black stuff covering the ground, making it impossible to till any more ground other than the farms we already have set up! We're only lucky we were able to make the most use of the space we have available within the walls since the stuff hasn't made it past the gate, which is just another reason we don't dare open the thing!"

Ok, maybe he's a bit more than just a little concerned. I hold up my arms to try and placate him. "I'm sorry. I've been really busy otherwise I would have tried to come by sooner. Those buildings out there that look like giant creatures are part of the Zerg. They look alive because they are alive, and they are buildings, and they're mine. You won't come to harm from them. As for the black stuff growing on the ground, it's called creep and it's also mine. I'm sorry about the loss of potential farm land, but in a way, you've lucked out. The creep is edible at least to us Zerg, so it stands to reason it would be edible for you too. Just a small piece is enough to stave off hunger for twice as long as a normal meal would."

Plucking up a two pieces of creep off the ground outside the gate, then in deference to the village for now closing it quickly in case the Creep really isn't edible for them, I come back in and pop a piece in my mouth and eat it. After swallowing I said, "See? It's pretty good stuff. Try it."

Sceptical, Thomas took the creep and looked at it. Slowly he put it in his mouth and chewed. His eyes lit up at the taste, so at least that's going for it. Then he swallowed. "You're right, this is far better than I expected! Even better then bread! Is it bad if you eat too much of it at once?" Shrugging I replied, "I have no idea. I've only ever eaten enough of it to get by. You can probably get away with eating a very small piece to show it's edible if you're worried."

Thomas nodded, then pulled open the gate and plucked up a very large patch of creep before closing it and convening the Elders. On the way I mentioned that the wall may not be needed anymore since my Lairs are so efficient at taking care of the monsters. Thomas was skeptical of taking down the walls since he was worried that if any miss it might destroy their houses. I promised him this wouldn't be the case. My Lairs never miss, and they can control how hard they're fired so they wouldn't go straight through the mobs if a house is right behind them. I also told him about how I'm working on a way to get the creep to glow so monsters won't be able to spawn in the first place. This, more than the fact that the creep is edible, seemed to excite Thomas and convince him to accept the Creep, though it did occur to me that if the creep were infused with glowstone, would it be edible anymore? If it still was, would the consumed glow dust cause us to glow? These questions led me to believe that either I'd need to somehow make it so there could be patches of nonglowing creep, or make the creep shed the glowdust if plucked.

One of the other farmers seemed to pick up on this possibility and I explained that I'd work out a way to get around it, but it might be necessary to choose between having safety or an easily accessible food source. The meeting continued on and I tuned out quite a bit of it. Honestly, some of what they talked about had hardly anything to do with me anyways.

Instead, I kept up tabs on my Swarm's growth. The Hydralisks had continued to keep the Ghasts at bay, and surprisingly, a tribe of zombie pigmen had decided to go on the offensive too. Considering those were always neutral in game until attacked, the fact that they'd go on offensive like that is strange. I hope that doesn't mean other rules from the game won't be ignored either.

I also kept track of the Overlords and their scouting. To my disappointment, they'd discovered that we are indeed located on an oblong island shaped similarly to Australia tipped on it's side. The only relief came from knowing one of my Overlords had scouted over the edge of the water to the south west and found another land mass that way. I've already directed an Overlord to bring drones over that way.

I've also kept track of keeping up the general spreading of the Lairs and Creep, though I'm seriously considering handing that job over to one of my Queens. It's not that it's hard, but keeping track of that much at once is starting to become a strain. I'd much rather focus on the Zerg as a whole instead of micromanaging the movements of each and every drone out there, of which there are about a thousand at any given time, though in a couple hours that number will decrease if the new landmass spotted doesn't pan out.

This micromanaging on top of trying to keep track of these council meetings isn't helping either. Evidently one of the council had been trying to catch my attention for the past few minutes and I hadn't even noticed. That for me, is the final straw. I asked the council to hold a moment and mentally asked my Queens to handle drone, lair, and creep production for me from now on. I just can't keep up on both since controlling that many drones is just too much for me to handle on top of everything else. Naturally my Queens agreed and they took to it like fish out of water, making me realize I hadn't been using them efficiently either, what with having them sit around doing practically nothing. They're Queens. They're meant to nurture and spread the Swarm, so of course handling the drones would be easy for them!

Sighing, I mentally came back to the meeting and apologized explaining I'd been taking care of matters on my end and became almost visibly annoyed when I found out they had still been discussing ways for their fencing to block the spreading of the creep.

"Why do you even want to know about that?" I asked.

The other farmer spoke up, "So we can still have patches of land to grow our crops on. Even with this new food source, we aren't going to want to eat creep all of the time."

Ah, well that makes sense. I guess that'd been explained at some point, but I'd missed it. Good thing I don't have to worry about the drones anymore. Almost as if to mock me, Asura made contact mentally asking for usage of the Overlords as well in order to better spread the Drones out. I agreed, telling them to use the Overlords as they saw fit, but to still keep one for each of them at all times for transportation purposes, and that I'll still need one for that purpose as well. That finished, I realized with a start that from now on, that would basically be the extent of what I'd have to deal with the drones for! I almost laughed in relief, but was able to refrain else the other council people might think me crazy or something.

Finally, FINALLY, the meeting ended. The council had decided a few things, one of which would be to experiment on ways to block creep growth. Since the gate and walls had stopped worked in that fashion, they would see about fashioning stone walls to do the same thing. Considering the fact that there are stone fences in Minecraft, that shouldn't be difficult for them to pull off.

Now with the meeting over, I decided to go and visit the other villages as well. Upon hearing my destination, Thomas asked to come with, though he seemed to be less than enthused when he discovered my means of transportation.

It took a bit to finally coax Thomas on the Overlord. I'd finally threatened to leave him there before he finally got on. The ride took a bit to get to the nearest one. I chose to doze off, considering I could just watch the land pass by through the eyes of the Overlord. Thomas can't do that though. I wonder if I could get a Cerebrate to put artficial viewports in the Overlords for things like this? I put it on my long term evolution goals for later.

Once we got to the next village, it seems I'd come not a moment too soon. All the villagers had stayed inside to hide from the Lairs and they were nearly sick with hunger. Needless to say they all but fell upon the Creep as soon as we'd demonstrated that it could be eaten. This seemed to be the general state of all the other villages as well. We came, we proved the Lairs safe, we showed the Creep as edible, the starving villagers fell upon it praising us, or me in particular since Thomas would point out the creep is my doing. Afterwards the village council would be called to discuss various things, mainly who I am, "Matthew the Overmind, leader of the Zerg," my purpose here, "Just the new neighbor saying hello," and other things such as the purpose of the creep and the Lairs themselves. Interestingly, one of the villages actually asked to explore one of the Lairs. I agreed, and nearly the whole village came to see. There wasn't much to the tour though considering there's only really one accessible room in the entire lair, and I warned against them touching the pool, demonstrating how stuff disappears when touching it. I did tell them if they were ever in any danger and they couldn't reach the village, they could escape to hide in a Lair if they wished.

All in all, the rest of the day was full of the meet and greet. I didn't say as such, but I'd basically claimed ownership of the villages in my head as the new Lord of the land so to speak. I don't need anything from them of course, other than good will and no hostilities. Other than that, they can really go on with their lives as usual. They'll just have to get used to the general vista is now black instead of green, though I am considering making the creep look like grass as a possibility. All my Zerg and even the creep can use the shapeshift ability now, but as of this moment I haven't really seen any need to do so.

Over the course of the day, I stayed aware of the goings on of my Swarm. The Overlords had continued to scout, drop off and pick up drones, and gather various things. A few cave systems had been discovered over on the new land, as well as a new village. It's too late to go visit today though, and come to think of it it's not like I have to do that either. After contemplating, I pass on the word to my Queens to handle any more meet and greet outside of this island's villages unless it's something I need to attend to. Joy promised she'd go visit the new village tomorrow. Eight villages are more than enough for me to handle, anymore and all of it will just start blending together in my head.

As for the expansion of the swarm, my Queens had kept up a steady rate of drones pushing further and further into the new land, and any time the Overlords discovered a new place, more drones were purchased and shuttled there to continue the spread. I'm almost appalled at the efficiency my Queens are going about with it. They've spent far more than I would have in a day's worth of expansion, but in the end they've already nearly doubled what I would have covered today if I'd continued to handle the Creep expansion on my own. I'm really glad I passed the job onto my Queens now.

Now that night has fallen, the monsters had started out, but thanks to the new armor, my Queens continued as if they weren't even there. Not even creepers exploding bothered my drones, though after a while the Queens started directing the drones to avoid them after witnessing so many pockmarks left in the ground from the aftermath, enough to slow the spread of the Creep.

All in all, by the time night had come, my Queens had gone up to nearly 5000 drones when expanding the creep, and just as many Lairs, leaving me with 6,143,280 mana, and with the rate they're going, I wouldn't be surprised if that number goes up exponentially as the creep spreads further and further out, especially once glowstone gets thrown into the mix and we can finally expand into the Oceans.

On that note, my two lairs in the Nether have finished now. With that started, my Queens immediately have set to building Overlords and Drones to explore and spread in that place as well. With the first Overlord finished, I took over that one and had it pluck down some glowstone from the ceiling, then push it through the portal to this side. That done, I ordered the drone assigned to the evolution chamber to drop it in the analysis pool and started that up. With the fragility of it, I wasn't at all surprised that it only took a few minutes to finish.

Now with the glowstone available to the Zerg, I hit on a brilliant idea. I'd been worried that introducing glow dust into the creep would make it inedible, but then I realized the solution. Shapeshift can take on physical traits so long as the object it's shifted into is available to the Swarm. I could have made the Creep look like a field of glowstone before now if I'd wanted and it wouldn't have done any good. It'd look like Glowstone certainly, but it wouldn't glow. Now with Glowstone available to the swarm, now I can have the creep shapeshift into creep that already has glowdust infused in it. Then it'll glow, but it doesn't actually have glowdust in it, so once it's digested it'll revert to its original state! I knew I could have my cake and eat it too!

Sending out the order, I watched in glee as a golden glow rippled out from the lairs like drops of water in a pool, lighting up the entire area. The spiders became docile, but the Lairs killed them anyway just in case. It wasn't even seconds later that the sound of flying spines and dying monsters faded to nothing. After all, without darkness, the monsters couldn't spawn and get reinforcements. Just like that, my land is now as safe as if I'd turned the difficulty to peaceful. This is seriously a victory worth celebrating! The cheers of my Queens over our mental link is extremely heartening, and I know that once I get back to the Lair, there's going to be much hugging and cuddling to celebrate. I just wish I had a drink to commemorate the occasion.

Then I realized that I could have a drink. Taking a detour, I directed the Overlord I'm riding back to my Lair in to pick up a bunch of apples. Doing this, as soon as I reached the lair, I had the Overlord pulp the apples, then strain the juice into a separate part of its body then chill it. That done, I grabbed another Overlord to fashion a large cast iron keg and iron cups out of some of the iron left over from that long ago dig. Then I had the other overlord fill the keg up with the apple juice, then deposit the left over apple rinds into the nearest mana pool.

At this point, the Queens had come out to see what I was doing outside the Lair rather than coming inside and celebrating. Grinning, I passed out glasses of fresh apple juice, then held it aloft and said, "To victory! Let this be the first of many to come!" My Queens held there glasses aloft to this then as one we drank the juice. It had to be the best apple juice I've ever had, between it being freshly squeezed and being from the apple trees on the creep.

I'd already noticed that despite falling off the trees a while ago, the apples hadn't decomposed at all, staying completely fresh, and even resisting bugs. That alone would have seen my apples taking over the market back on Earth. If I can do that for all fruits and vegetables, then I'd quickly have a monopoly in the produce trade easy. Of course, monopolies are illegal, so there'd have to be others who sell fruit and veggies as well, but I'd hold a virtual monopoly since everyone would rather have edible plants that never go bad. Too bad I don't really need money though, so I'd probably just end up giving out my produce for free. Too bad that sets a precedence that could lead to all products being free. That could either destroy the economy or evolve it into a higher system not based around bartering, but around good will.

People will never stop being greedy though, and a system based on honor and good will would require the abolishment of greed. Since there will always be greedy people who will fight to keep their power base, namely the economy, from being destroyed, an evolution into a higher system would not be completely smooth going anyway. Doesn't mean it's not a worthy goal to pursue though! We'll just have to see how that goes if I ever find Earth again.

I am seriously glad that I have apple juice available though. I'd missed having juice to drink. My favorite drink is milk though. I wish I could get some milk to drink. Then again, there are cows in minecraft, and you can get milk from them. Maybe I can get some milk after all! Scanning quickly through the area with the eyes of my Lairs and Overlords, I find some cows on the west side of the island. To my surprise, there are hardly any animals on this island, even though I'd seen more than this before. These animals are relatively young too.

It didn't take long for me to realize why. All the older animals used to eating grass would have avoided the creep, not knowing it to be edible, leading the deaths of most of the animals on the island. These young animals are probably the few who figured out they could eat the creep, since that's exactly what they're doing. Thankfully they still are despite the fact that the creep now glows.

With those few cows, I won't have much milk available. Sensing my disappointment admist this time of celebration, my Queens asked me what's wrong. After explaining it to them, to my surprise they laughed and Asura asked, "Is that all? How did you create this container of apple juice in the first place?"

Confused, I replied, "I had an Overlord shape it and another one crush a lot of apples to get the juice."

Nodding Asura replied, "Now, if you wanted more apple juice, you'd do this same thing, correct?"

I nodded not knowing where they were going with this. My Queens burst into giggles at this. Annoyed I asked, "What?"

It was Joy who answered this time, "But Matthew, if you took this container of apple juice and dumped it into the analysis pool, it'd stand to reason that you could then have the Zerg produce the apple juice in containers directly! You've already proved that with shapeshift, you can have a Zerg turn into just about any shape you want. Have one be born in the shape of that container and have it filled with apple juice!"

I stared at my still giggling Queens, completely floored. After a time, my brain caught up with me considering the possibilities of this and said, "That… that's absolutely BRILLIANT! Why didn't I think of that? That way I could just take a pail of milk, dump it into the analysis pool, then presto! Milk is available to the Swarm! Actually we could do that with just about any food! The buildings already produce Creep as substance so the process is already there!"

My excitement gave way though as I considered how to do it. "Wait, Shapeshift is an ability that would have to be activated after birth, and it's not like you can grow non biological… objects…" My eyes grew wide, "But… biological objects are simply elements that are also found in non biological objects, just formed in more complex ways… in that case, why couldn't the Zerg grow non biological things?" The idea was radical. It would forever change the shape of the Zerg if it worked.

Quickly pulling up the ZGA, I queried if it would be able to create non living objects. It answered no, but then I asked if it was possible to create a Zerg strain that could die before birth. The ZGA answered yes. In that case, I posed the question that if the Zerg can create a dead creature, then doesn't that count as a non living object? At this point the ZGA shut down stating that any further inquiries into this line would require an update from a Geneticist. Disappointed, but ultimately excited that while I couldn't do such a thing yet, I just might be able to down the road, I put growing non living objects into my long term evolution goals. After all, just imagine it, with the ability to do such a thing, I could literally grow my own tank or any kind of technology! Heck, growing technology just might be the next step in production required to give science a huge technological boom!

Quickly expanding on my idea to the Queens, we further celebrated with more apple juice, and I had the Evolution chamber drone come down to collect some apple juice to pour into the analysis pool, along with an apple, then set the ZGA to analyzing both, which only took a minute or two.

Thoughts of the evolution chamber actually reminded me of something, and I quickly set about ordering some of the Overlords to collect the few bodies of endermen up to drop off at the Evolution chamber. Since I'd been doing this each night since I'd started collecting them, the Endermen genome had finally reached 98 percent completion in the ZGA. Hopefully tonight with these last five bodies would finally see me getting the Enderman's teleport ability into the swarm! Furthering those projects along being on my mind, I quickly set about building a drone and starting up an evolution chamber in the Nether. I also ordered an Overlord to pick up a zombie, skeleton, and spider out of the caves and deposit them outside of the evolution chamber so that the drone could push them into the Evolution chamber, which wasn't all that hard to do when it came down to it.

That finished, and those analyzed, I noticed with some annoyance that the zombie and skeleton only registered as two stages of dead bodies, only giving me a partial genome, not that that would give me the clue to how they're dead but also alive. After thinking about it, I realized that whatever it is probably has nothing to do with their genetic makeup and probably has something to do with magic, which is something that this world does have. Maybe that'll become a new ability type. I already have physical and psionic. Maybe next I'll get magical. That'd be cool.

Even during my doing all that, I continued to celebrate with my Queens just as they also continued ordered the drones out to spread the creep while we celebrated. In fact, now that my creep can glow now, a huge spike in drone and Lair production had started as now my Queens are pushing into the oceans. I'm glad they're taking the initiative on this since they already knew that's what I wanted to do once glowstone became available to the swarm. All told, by midnight my mana had dropped down to 504,630, and the surface area of this world that I now covered is probably close to about 10,000 square blocks, when only this morning the creep only covered roughly 5,000. My girls sure are efficient.

Speaking of efficiency…

-END CHAPTER-

Overmind mana – 500/500

Zerg Mana – 504,630/1,000,000,000

Zerg Supply –~8,319/53,220

Units:

1 Overmind

1079 Overlords

~8000 Drones

11 Speedlings

6 Queens

100 Hydralisks

Structures:

12,851 Lairs

1 Spawning Pool

2 Evolution Chambers

1 Baneling Nest

1 Roach Warren

1 Hydralisk Den


	15. Chapter 15

_Zerg Mana – 23,780,955_

Holy hell are my Queens efficient or are they efficient! I'd not even had my creep glowing the entire night, so with my Queens doubling my surface area of creep, my income has jumped from 8 million to 23 million! That's insane!

I congratulated my queens on this amazing feat. At this rate, half a billion mana might not be so insurmountable an obstacle afterall! I mean think on it, right now my creep covers about 10,000 square blocks of space, and a minecraft world is 60 million square blocks of space. Granted it's like a hundred times the size of earth, but still! Do the math! 23 million income for only 10,000 square blocks, and that's without a full 24 hours of absorption time? By the time I cover this planet, the Overworld alone will give me an income of something like 138,000,000,000 at minimum! If I somehow flattened the Nether, and since the Nether is 8 times smaller than the Overworld, then that would give me 17,250,000,000 at minimum, raising my total income to 155,250,000,000 mana! As for the End, I doubt I should count that really. The place is pretty small compared to the Nether. I mean, you can see the entire space of the End just by standing in the middle of it! If it is the moon, then it must be pretty freaking small, which makes sense I guess since the moon up in the sky here isn't all that big either. It looks smaller than our moon actually. At least it doesn't look square like in the game. I'm actually glad that the land doesn't look like some kind of lego land. That'd probably drive me nuts trying to figure out how anything actually works here. I mean, grass growing out the side of what is basically a sheer cliff of dirt? Is that truly even possible?

Anyways, having approx 155 billion mana a day would be extremely useful. I'd be able to reach Level 4 pretty quickly, and then I could go out and get another planet to try and reach level five quickly too! If I only stuck with this planet after all, it'd probably take me… let's see, doing the mental math… cutting off a billion from both numbers, that's 500,000 divided by 155… that's approximately 3,225 days, which is something like ten years. While I could wait that long, I don't really want to, and besides, by ten years, I probably would have spread my creep on enough planets to reach 500 trillion in seconds. Granted, at that point, is there even a reason to keep spreading the Swarm by that point? Ah who am I kidding, I'm the Overmind, and the bigger my family is the better!

That decided, I turned my attention back to my Queens and the spreading of the creep, and I just about choked. The sheer numbers they're putting out in drones has already topped my supply quota, and I'm already down to 20,000,000 mana! How in the world did they spend 3 million mana already!? Shaking my head, I decide to just go with it. Unlike some people, they're not wasting it, but actually making a very good investment that'll make me even more mana in the long run. I know there's the cliché of if you give a woman your wallet, she'll spend every dime you have, but you can't argue with the results if it ends up returning you far more money than was spent!

I suppose I shouldn't be all that surprised though. With each Lair the equivalent of an Overlord, so adding even more supply each time one is built, that just gives my Queens more and more supply available to spread the swarm. Heck, with 53,220 available supply at the moment, I wouldn't be surprised if they quickly get to the point of having 50,000 drones out at some point.

Almost as if they'd read my mind, the next thing I know, my Queens had topped out my supply limit in drones, though that wasn't too much of a bite into my mana, since 52,023 drones only costs 2,601,150 mana. No what scares me is that that many drones making lairs costs 26,011,500 mana, and I don't have that much mana. I'm surprised they bought so many so fast. Or I was anyway until my mana had dropped down to 305, filling the Ocean with 42,359 new growing Lairs. The leftover 9,664 drones burrowed into new spots all around the ocean floor, and I literally sweatdropped as I realized that come this afternoon, with 42,359 new lairs, my lands will have increased in size nearly five times! Jumping from approx 10,000 to 50,000 square blocks of space is almost insane, and that number is going to grow exponentially at this rate! Actually if I do the math… by this afternoon, my income should jump to something along the lines of 175 million mana!

That's if I did the math wrong though, since it's entirely possible that by infusing the glowstone into the creep, my income will actually have quadrupled, not doubled, but since the last jump wasn't nearly enough to indicate something like that, I'll just have to wait till tomorrow night. If the amount is around 175 million, then it'll have only doubled. If it's more along the lines of 350 million mana, then it will have quadrupled.

That's when an idea got into my head that had me literally freezing in my tracks. The caves… if I spread the creep underground, that would increase my surface area far beyond 60 million square blocks! Actually, whenever I played minecraft, I'd usually end up digging a mineshaft down into the ground, all the way down, then expanding that mineshaft in layers, giving me a multistory complex, and as a by your leave to physics, I always left pillars to support the ground even if they weren't actually needed. If I did the same thing, creating multi level floors big enough to house even the large Zerg Hives, then I wouldn't just have a surface area of 60 million square blocks… I'd have 60 million square blocks times however many floors I can fit under the ground!

That's… that's… if I went by how deep the pit went, then I'd say I could probably have about ten floors underneath the top soil… and to think I'd been boggling at the prospect of having a 155.25 billion mana income! If this works, then I could have a 1.38 trillion mana income from the Overworld alone! If I did the same to the Nether… but then I'm not sure how deep the Nether goes. And all that lava could cause problems trying to figure that out let alone creating multiple levels to it. Still, it won't hurt to try!

That brings me another idea actually. Not only do I build down, but I also build up to. Using the same formula as the multiple floors down the mineshaft, I usually end up with a tower of multiple levels stretching into the sky. If I build floors stretching up to the limit of the atmosphere… but wait, that might not be a good thing… Changing the size of the planet like that might be bad in the end. Plus, it's entirely possible that if I dug out an entire planets worth of space beneath the top soil, that could cause the supports to buckle and then I'd have pretty much destroyed the planet basically. I'll need to test out if a layer of rock and dirt alone with nothing but space below can support the weight of a Lair, even with support posts. After all, it's not like I can build support posts sticking through the middle of the Lair. I'd have to make sure that a Lair could be supported by just that without falling… unless… unless I offset everything. Like a brick layer will put a brick over the crack of the bottom row of bricks, I could put a pillar directly underneath the Lair and offset the lower layers lairs. Though if I did it exactly like bricks… maybe only offsetting it by a little each time you go down a layer might do it? But no, that would mean any layer below that wouldn't have a pillar directly beneath the lair above. There doesn't seem any good way to do this!

Unless… unless the support wasn't just stone and dirt? What if the entire frame of support was built using Adamantium? Could that work? It is completely impervious to physical damage… but then again, how would I go about getting that much Adamantium, and it'd probably also be best if it was all one solid piece or at least interlocking pieces too. How would I pull that off?

That's when I remembered what I'd tried to pull off earlier with growing inanimate objects. I could just grow the adamantium! But I still need a geneticist before I can do that. Ah well, just another thing to put in the Long term evolution goals list.

While I pondered the possibilities of a multilayered hive, I had to wonder how I would go about digging such a large amount of land? Zerglings can only go so fast, though they would probably do for small scale projects. Digging out an entire planet a hundred times larger than earth though… Again, I have to wish that I had a creature made for digging, especially in terms of large scale like this. Wait a second though, I do have such a creature! Nydus worms are on an unbelievable scale of size, with their main body jutting out of the Nydus Network building, and having heads that can grow to just about anywhere you wish on the planet. You couldn't ask for a better large scale digger than that!

Actually… with Nydus worms available next level, I could get started doing that within the next week or two… and since I'd infused adamantium throughout the Zerg, they could probably dig down into the void… and when it comes down to it, this entire world is being cushioned on a large block of space that goes down hundreds of miles… after all, if the Nether is 8 times smaller than the Overworld, cross section wise, that's a large chunk of space sitting in between the Nether and the bottom layer of the Overworld. The only problem would be that HE might be down there, and there's still the problem that even with adamantium armor, the Void could probably still kill us. If we can get past those two issues though, that's even more space to fill out with more multi levels of Creep.

Actually there's still another possibility too. This is reality, and the idea of a huge chunk of land sitting on top of a huge empty space is kind of ludicrous, so there actually might only be adamantium and lava straight down to the nether. I want to find out, but I don't quite dare just yet, even if our claws probably would allow us to dig through adamantium now. If it is only adamantium though, then there's the answer to our needing a large source of the stuff to create a frame out of to support the lairs.

With future plans satisfied for the moment, I turned to my Queens and asked, "Why didn't you space out the building of the drones and the Lairs over the course of the day?"

Asura answered, "We were going to, but then we realized that not all of the Lairs would have had the greatest amount of time to absorb light before midnight came to give us more mana. Knowing this, we made as many Lairs as quickly as possible rather than wait."

I nodded, "That makes sense actually. Good work." It also explains why they jumped to having so many Drones so suddenly, and yet still have some left over. It's too bad that we only get mana once a day. If it was a constant income like in the game, then working up to building more over time would be the better move, but since that's not how collecting mana works, my Queen's plan works best.

That out of the way, I wonder what I should do now? My answer came almost immediately by the ZGA informing me that the Enderman genome had been fully integrated into the Zerg. Finally. Teleportation for all Zerg will cut out the need for shuttles, rendering Overlords shuttle purposes useless. Without the need to be shuttles, that opens them up to be evolved into Overseers. Considering the importance of this, and with the new Lairs already on the way, I figure it's time for an evolution, only for me to freeze, with my eyes bugging out. I'd almost forgotten that the Queens had dropped my mana level to nearly zero creating those new Lairs. My Queens were all arrayed around me looking at me curiously as I turned around slowly to regard them.

"New rule," I stated quietly, "In spreading the creep, from now on, you will leave 1,000,000 of the mana alone. Any more than that you can use to continue increasing the size of the swarm, but for now, you will leave 1,000,000 of that untouched. Understood?" My Queens nodded fearfully. I took a deep breath, releasing the anger I felt at having such a huge set back hit. I shook my head and said, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gotten angry at you. We need to learn from this though. Spreading the Creep isn't the only thing we need to do to increase the swarm. The only thing left I can think of to do right now is an evolution, and we can't do that without 500,000 mana available. Even beyond evolutions, we'll still need more than that free for emergencies such as if we need to create an army quickly, hence why the rule is 1,000,000 rather than just 500,000."

Sighing, I sank to the ground asking myself aloud, "What to do now?..." Tentatively, Joy stepped forward and cautiously wrapped me in a hug. I leaned into her, grateful, which prompted the other Queens to come forward and wrap around us. Asura whispered, "We're sorry Matthew." I shook my head and said, "It's alright. The issue is dealt with. We can move on from here now, better and wiser than before. Be happy for that ok?" The others nodded while Asura whispered, "Ok."

We sat like that for a while, me cradled in Joy's lap with the rest of my Queens wrapped around us. I chuckled, "I guess I've found what I'm going to do until morning." And with that, I fell asleep.

-END CHAPTER-

Overmind mana – 500/500

Zerg Mana – 305/1,000,000,000

Zerg Supply –10,862/53,220(211,795 pending)

Units:

1 Overmind

1079 Overlords

9,765 Drones

11 Speedlings

6 Queens

100 Hydralisks

Structures:

12,851 Lairs (42,359 pending)

1 Spawning Pool

2 Evolution Chambers

1 Hydralisk Den

1 Roach Warren

1 Baneling Nest


	16. Chapter 16

Come morning, I woke up to my stomach growling. Unfortunately I can't seem to do away with needing to eat or use the bathroom. I envy the Protoss in that. They can survive by eating light. Actually in a round about way so do my Zerg, since the creep absorbs light… but I know that's not actually true. I know if I want to get technical about it, light only feeds my mana stores. Creep itself is actually composed of nutrients necessary for a Zerg body to function, or any body really. Maybe if I'm really lucky, I might run across the Protoss AND they'll be nice enough to let me have their dead, or maybe a volunteer… or maybe pigs will learn to fly. I can't believe I actually thought for a second that the Protoss would actually consider giving their fallen or a volunteer to the Zerg. Yeah right!

No, I'll just have to get my future geneticist to create the ability to subsist of light from scratch. Shouldn't be too hard. Plants… do…it… Eyes widening, I tore out of the Lair, leaving a bunch of very confused and surprised Queens in my wake. I run to the nearest tree that isn't producing apples, and I uproot the entire thing. Thank goodness for my 1 ton strength! Dragging the tree to the evolution chamber myself, much to the bemusement of my following Queens, I drop the tree into the analysis pool and have the ZGA analyze it. A few minutes later it's done, and I query the system for the abilities of the tree. The answer had me shouting for joy. I can now add photosynthesis as a physical ability to the Swarm! Brilliant! The Zerg can now survive off of light! Heck, once I get a cerebrate available, I can alter the buildings themselves so they can survive off of light alone, completely negating the need for the Creep!

Coming to a halt at that thought, I realized that wouldn't work. I'd need the creep at least for mana collection purposes, but at least with my buildings surviving off light, I won't have to worry about them starving or something if they're not connected to creep anymore. Just another step towards realizing the possibility of flying Zerg buildings. Better yet though, this renders the need for food for our units obsolete. Now I truly can eat only for pleasure, unless I'm in a dark room for long, and since the mana pool in my Lair provides light, that's highly unlikely.

On a sidenote, I could also pull the ability to breathe carbon dioxide from the tree. Rather useless since the Zerg don't need to breathe at all, but still interesting. I bet if I got a Cerebrate to work on it, the Zerg would be able to reproduce by shedding seeds too. Actually, that might be a far better idea than being limited to three larvae per lair. If the Lairs could fly above planet and shower seeds from orbit, one could theoretically overrun a planet without even setting foot on the ground. With that idea in mind, I stuck the idea of reproducing through seeds instead of larvae in the long term evolution list.

While I'd been letting my mind wander I collecting up a piece of the creep and ate it. Doing a quick, almost habitual check over the swarm, I noted that everything seems to be coming along nicely. The Evolution Chamber is done in the Nether, so I put standing orders for the Hydralisks to drag anything they kill into the analysis chamber, then with a thought, I queried the ZGA to see if it could automatically analyze anything thrown into the analysis pool instead of needing my constant ordering of it to do so. It could, so I gave it standing orders to analyze everything thrown in to the pool not already of the Swarm.

That done, I went back to my check of the Swarm, noting that nothing new had really happened. The villages are doing fine. The only thing of any interest left is that some of the octopus had started to swarm the Lairs. I don't know what that's about. I always though the Octopus in Minecraft were weird. They were always beaching themselves or pressing themselves up against anything solid, including the ocean floor and sea cliffs. It was kind of ridiculous to watch them at it. While thinking about the underwater lairs, I thought about when they would be done. Would the entrances lie open? Wouldn't that allow a flood of water in though? But then it'd mix into the Mana pool… and get sucked in, leaving the Ocean bone dry. Oh that couldn't be good. I gave a standing order to my Queens that once the Lairs underwater had finished spawning, they were to be ordered to seal up, not letting anything in or out of them, and why this had to be. In the mean time I added another goal to my long term evolution goals, find a method of blocking water from passing an opening but not blocking anything else. The only thing I can think of like that off the top of my head were the Gungan's shield bubbles. I honestly have no idea how those could have possibly worked though. They certainly weren't kinetic shields since those only stop something from entering if it breaks a certain speed or pressure limit… ok, so maybe they are kinetic shields. Being underwater can provide quite a few pounds of pressure from all the gallons of water sitting on top of those shields. Still, I don't see how I'm going to invent kinetic shields without understanding how they work. It's more likely I'll have to create a specific underwater lair that has double doors that work like airlocks, or a gummy fluid that you can press through that closes up behind you as you go through it.

I dunno. I'll figure all that out later. Going back to my Queens, I climbed back into the pile of limbs and made myself another mental note to add a room to the Lair with a bed. Nice as this is, it'd be nice to have a bed again. Although I could probably make one if I got some wood and found myself some sheep… a bed of wool sounds kinda itchy though… with that thought, I fell back asleep dreaming of a nice soft king sized extra long bed with silk sheets, or maybe even a custom bed that can fit all seven of us comfortably even if we're not all piled together…

I again woke to my stomach growling. It's late evening and I went out again to eat some creep. Nothing much happening. My underwater Lairs have finished, bringing my total supply up to 253,220. The villagers seem to be very happy judging from the consumption of creep and drinking and laughing going on. I guess they're celebrating the monsters being gone, and I'm glad they'd figured out that even though the creep is glowing, it'd still be edible like I said I'd work out how to do. I have to wonder if Thomas thought the villagers might end up glowing though. Grinning, I remembered I had thought something similar when I first came across the problem. Nothing else is really going on though. The other 10,000 drones are still just sitting and waiting for the chance to become Lairs themselves. A lot of the Overlords had gone further out exploring and discovered new lands beyond the Ocean, though still mostly islands like this one. Even that land to the southwest we'd first discovered happened to be an island, and a smaller one to the one we're on right now for that matter.

I really wish there was a way to just map out where everything is. It'd make finding new place to spread the creep much easier, even though that's not much of a problem anymore being able to spread out in the Ocean now. Still… then an interesting idea popped in my head that might solve the problem. If I send an Overlord into orbit over the main hive, I can use that one's view as a way to see where all the other land masses are! I'm also curious to find out if the world I'm on is going to be more like the game, and just a flat square of land floating in space, or if it'll be realistic and be a round planet? Though if this is just a flat square floating in space, then the Void just might be space itself. I hope it's not though. Trying to understand how that's even possible will most likely make my brain explode. Of course, that's just an exaggeration. I'm not like most people who can't accept something just because it can't be readily explained. I do like knowing why things work though, but I'm not going to freak over it if I can't. Sometimes some things can't be readily explained and won't be until you accept that they exist first.

Nodding to myself, I once more make my way back into the Lair whilst ordering an Overlord to go up into orbit over the Hive. With that taken care of, I slipped back in among the pile of Queens once more and fell asleep, counting my blessings again for having such a lovely group by my side.

When next I woke, I found my Queens shaking me up.

"What, what is it?" I reflexively checked the entire swarm for danger while I waited for the answer.

Joy answered excitedly, "We just thought you'd want to be awake. It's going to happen any second now."

Confused I asked, "Wha-"

_Zerg Mana – 182,751,540_

Ah, so that's why they woke me, even as I gaped at the number that had popped up in my head. Ok, so the number didn't quadruple, so the layer of glowdust underneath the creep had no effect on my income, but still, jumping from 80 mil to 180 mil is extremely impressive.

I turned to my Queens nodding, and said, "I'm impressed. Keep up the good work." Smiling happily, my Queens set to work ordering new Drones and Lairs. I'm glad that they're doing better after the upset earlier. Now once they're done, it's time to upgrade the swarm again. I wonder if I can give my buildings the ability to warp as well? That would just be plain nuts though, that's for sure. That ability alone would give me a tactical advantage even above the Protoss, especially combined with the idea of growing the Zerg from seeds. Add that to being invulnerable to any physical damage, and I'd be hard pressed to come up with any force out there that could stop us, that I know of. Space is a big place though, I'm sure there's something out there that could cause us trouble, so I have to make sure to keep pressing on in order to keep my new family safe.

Watching my Queens work, they first started off unburrowing the 9,664 drones from yesterday and morphing them into Lairs. On a side note, I wonder if there's a way to speed up production of my Zerg? I'll have to see about that when I get a Cerebrate. With 9,664 Lairs on the way, that drops my mana by 483,200, leaving me with 182,268,340 mana.

Next step for them I knew would be getting as many drones and Lairs as possible without breaking the 1KK buffer I set for our mana. Doing the math, that would come to 362,536 Lairs, not including the drones. That many drones would cost 18,126,800 mana though. Shaking my head, I can only be glad that I can do such figures in my head, otherwise spreading out the drones would've been an even bigger pain than it already is. I'm not too fond of math to be honest. Sucks the fun out of things. Thank goodness I have my Queens for that now!

Somehow, before I even knew it, the Queens had done the math in their head and pumped out 329,578 Drones and created that many Lairs leaving me with 1,000,440 Mana. I goggled at that, especially with how they circumvented the supply limit by building half the drones, then half the Lairs, then repeating.

"How did you get that number so quickly!? Even I couldn't have gotten that so fast!"

Asura answered simply, "We just divided the total of the mana we had to use by 550, the total cost of one drone and Lair combined. That gave us how many we could get of each."

I had to facepalm myself at that answer. And here I was calculating the cost of the Lairs and Drones separately trying to find a common denominator or something. This is why I hate math! I always overcomplicate it somehow. Now I'm really glad I handed over the Drone and Lair creation to my Queens!

With that underway, I had to wonder what the difference between my Queens and the Cerebrates are if both can control the Swarm in my stead like this. Unable to come up with an answer, I asked my Queens, and they gave me a simple answer.

"We can only do what you order us. If you gave us control of a brood, we wouldn't be able to do anything with it unless you gave us a direct order to do so. You've ordered us to spread the Creep, and gave us control of building Drones and Lairs to do so. That's the extent of what we can do, and only with your orders can we do that. If you gave control of a brood to a Cerebrate, they can and would do anything and everything to maximize the efficiency of that Brood within the Swarm without you having to give it specific orders to do so. In shortened terms, for us to control a Brood you have to micromanage our orders every time you want us to manage something within the Brood. For a Cerebrate to control a Brood, just give it general goals and it'll do that and more, macro managing at its finest."

I nodded, then asked, "Why can't you manage a brood without my direct intervention though? I gave you free will, couldn't you exercise that in the control of a Brood?"

Asura shook her head and said, "We aren't bred to do so. It's not that we don't have the means to control a Brood. With free will, we could figure that out eventually. But we aren't physically or psionically capable of giving orders to the Swarm without your direct command. We just aren't as advanced as a Cerebrate to be able to do that. The Zerg would ignore us if we even tried."

I nodded, thinking out loud, "So until we reach Level five, you six are more like… Cerebrates in training than actual Cerebrates then." Asura nodded, while the rest just looked at each other wide eyed. I'd already talked with Asura about my Queens being replacements for the Cerebrates, but this is the first the rest of my Queens had heard about it. I noticed their looks and turned back to Asura, motioning that she should explain to the rest of them what my plan is in regards to them being my literal Queens, not just Zerg Queens.

In the meantime, I queried the ZGA to find out if teleportation could be applied to the Swarm. To my surprise and delight, it seems that the teleportation ability can be applied not only to my units, but also to the buildings themselves. With my deciding to add the ability for my buildings to be built off the Creep and generate their own creep as well, by the end of this evolution, my buildings will be able to transport themselves anywhere and establish themselves there. I'd hate to imagine what would happen to one of my buildings if they couldn't be built off creep and I had one warp off creep. It'd probably collapse in on itself or something.

With that information squared away, I contemplated morphing all my Overlords into Overseers, but in the end I decided not to, just in case there is some kind of limit to the teleportation.

"Are we ready to evolve?" I asked my Queens. They all answered in the affirmative. Ready as we'll ever be, I ordered the ZGA to apply teleportation to the swarm, creep generation to all my buildings, and the ability to be built off creep for all buildings. 500,000 mana later, and the Swarm fell into a state of unconsciousness as the evolution is applied.

-END CHAPTER-

Overmind mana – 500/500

Zerg Mana – 500,440/1,000,000,000

Zerg Supply – 1298/276,060 (1,696,210 pending)

Units:

1 Overmind

1079 Overlords

101 Drones

11 Speedlings

6 Queens

100 Hydralisks

Structures:

55,210 Lairs (339,242 pending)

1 Spawning Pool

2 Evolution Chambers

1 Hydralisk Den

1 Roach Warren

1 Baneling Nest


	17. Chapter 17

_EVOLUTION COMPLETE_

_Overmind Lv 2_

_Health – 200/200_

_Mana – 500/500_

_Abilities:_

_Spawn Lair (100 Mana) – Grows a Zerg Lair at your current location (12 hours)_

_Burrow – (0 Mana) – Go underground; unable to move; can only be detected by sensors_

_Transfusion – (50 Mana) – Instantly transfer 125 health to biological unit or structure_

_Shapeshift – (0 Mana) – Take on the appearance of any target similar in size_

_Adamantium Armor – (Passive) – All physical type damage is blocked 100%_

_PSI Assault (1 Mana) – Casts a focused PSI attack at one enemy _

_PSI Storm (50 Mana) – Casts a localized storm of PSI energy_

_PSI Guantlet Lvl 1 (Passive) – Mana Above 0; Strength increased by factor of 10_

_PSI Armor Lvl 1 (Passive) – Mana Above 0; All attacks do 25% less damage_

_PSI Sensor (Passive) – Mana Above 0; Able to detect cloaked, burrowed, and hallucinated units_

_Teleport Lvl 1 – (0 Mana) – Able to teleport within range of vision; full horizontal/slight vertical_

_Zerg Mana – 183,268,340_

_Zerg Supply – 1198/1,901,110_

Man, I can't help but feel excited. With the evolution finished, I can't wait to test out my teleportation, especially since it costs 0 mana! I totally didn't expect that. I figured it would've cost something, but instead it's a free ability! I guess it makes sense, since Endermen can use the ability freely, and it's not like I'm trying to use an Ender Pearl without whatever makes the Endermen capable of using it without getting hurt. No, I have the ability straight from the source. This is going to be so much fun to play with!

It seems my Queens are just as excited, if the fact that they're running right behind me out of the Lair just as fast as I am is anything to go by. As a first test, I warped myself over to the side of a Lair at the farthest my eyes could see. I laughed in exhilaration. The teleport was like rushing over from where I'd been to where I am right now so fast as to be instantaneous, but to my sight it seemed just slow enough that I could see myself flying past everything. Teleporting once left a pleasant tingle all along my skin.

First test successful, now for a second test! According to the ZGA, I should be able to warp anywhere within my range of vision. Well, thanks to the Overlords and Lairs, just about everywhere the creep is is within my range of vision! Focusing on my mental map, I aimed for the far side of the island and tried to teleport over there. What a rush! It worked! I can warp anywhere I can see, no matter how I'm able to see it! This is going to be so awesome! Just for the heck of it I warp just about everywhere I can, nearly appearing everywhere at once. The rush is completely nuts! It's like all the good feelings I get from roller coasters all wrapped up into one concentrated dose! I've certainly found my new favorite activity that's for sure! Now if I only I could listen to music while doing it, that would make this absolutely perfect.

Suddenly one of my Queens popped up by my side and leapt onto me in a full on glomp. It was Joy.

"This is so much FUN!" she gushed.

I grinned and replied, "I know right? Let's play tag!"

"What's that?" She asked excitedly.

"It's a game where one person is 'it', and whoever's 'it' has to chase everyone else, trying to tag them by touching them. As soon as a person is tagged, they become 'it' and then they have to chase everyone else, including the person who just tagged them."

With that explanation out of the way, I tapped her arm and said, "Tag! Your it!"

Thus lead to the most exhilarating chase and game of tag I've ever played. Being able to warp around to anywhere within range of your sight, at a rate in which you can practically be everywhere at once, is making the game seriously epic. It also lead to an interesting discovery that the ability wouldn't let us teleport into the same spot at the same time. Always, one of us would get there first, and then the other would crash into the other, being off placed by a little bit. This is usually how we ended up tagging each other since we could all warp around. It even makes sense really. An Enderman can't warp into a wall or anything solid, and since we're solid, that means we won't be able to warp into each other in a literal sense.

Finally by day break, I stopped, huffing from laughing so hard. Almost instantly I got tagged by Rose who'd been it at the time. But I held up my hand and said, "I need a break. I'm starting to get hungry, and I've been laughing way too hard." Catching my breath, I warped over to the beach, eyeing the water carefully. While the Enderman's weakness to water had been listed under their abilities, I still wanted to make absolutely sure water wouldn't hurt us. Carefully dipping my toes into the surf, I sighed in relief when nothing happened. Turning back to my Queen's I grinned and explained what I'd been doing, and they also expressed relief at not having such a weakness.

With that, I laid back onto the creep covered sand and looked into the slowly shifting colors of the sky as the sun rose. Each of my Queens laid down next to me and I grinned. They never cease to amaze me. Even while they'd been excitedly testing out there ability to teleport before the game of tag, they were still able to spawn more drones and Lairs to spread the Creep. Even now, I have 331,396 Lairs on the way with 1,000,540 mana left. By Midday, those Lairs will have completed, and then I'll have access to even more mana. I wonder though… even if the new creep only has half a day to absorb light, shouldn't a full 24 hours for that creep give me more that that? Unless… adding glowdust to the creep doesn't affect my mana absorption at all? But that wouldn't make sense!

Turning to Asura, I asked, "Does the glowdust increase the amount of mana absorbed by the creep at all?" Asura turned to me, contemplating the question, then answered, "It does and it doesn't. The Glowdust doesn't affect the Creep unless the Creep has no access to light at all."

Frowning, I thought aloud, "That would suggest that the creep only absorbs a set amount of light though… or do I have that wrong?"

Asura answered, "The Creep produces mana by converting light. The more light, the more mana, only in this case, I think you're measuring light by it's brightness?" At my nod, she continued, "Light in this case is actually measured by the intensity of the source, and if there are multiple sources, then the light from the greater source is absorbed."

"In that case, since the moon reflects light from the sun, then light from the moon to the creep is the equivalent of light from the sun?"

"Correct."

"Heh. And to think all this time I've been getting the full amount of light possible for the Creep already. I had thought that by putting glowdust in the Creep would increase the amount of light absorbed, thus extra mana."

"That is true for the Creep under the water and in the caves. You do get extra mana from the light of the glowstone there. The Glowstone only puts out slightly less light level than the sun does, and since shadows and water dim the sun, lowering the light level, the glowdust takes over there."

Scratching my head in thought, I wondered, "In that case, would the creep absorb more light if I put a magnifying glass above it?"

"What's a magnifying glass?"

My eyes goggled at the question. Sometimes it's hard for me to remember that my Queens are only familiar with everything Zerg. I keep forgetting that, even when Joy had to ask what the game Tag was earlier.

I explained, "A magnifying glass is a piece of glass that bends light, making things appear closer or further away depending on which way you look through it. Back on Earth, some kids would play with a magnifying glass by taking it outside and frying ants. The magnifying glass would bend the light concentrating it on one spot, which increases the heat of wherever that one spot is pointed at."

Asura thought a moment then said, "You answered your own question. It doesn't increase the light, it only concentrates it on one point. It wouldn't increase the amount of light, so wouldn't increase the amount of mana absorbed from it."

I nodded in comprehension. I was about to ask why, in this case, would light be blocked by water, only to remember that water doesn't concentrate or unconcentrate light at all. Water scatters light, reflecting more and more light away from the Creep the further down it goes till there's no light left to reach the creep. That would be where the glowdust kicks in. Come to think of it, particles in space would have the same effect on light, so even if I were in deep space on a planet with only stars, I'd still get roughly the same amount of light I get here thanks to the glowdust in the Creep.

It's still a little confusing though… light getting scattered away by water still gives the same amount of mana as light shining on creep within full line of sight of the sun, so in respect to that, sunlight reflected off the moon has the same strength as light straight from the sun. That makes sense, but what about the particles of light that come from brighter, but further away stars? Does distance play a factor?

Voicing this line of thinking to Asura, she responded, "Would one instant ray of light from a brighter star give more mana than light from a less brighter star that is a constant source?"

Good point that. I nodded answering, "I understand now. Thanks."

Asura smiled back and responded, "Your welcome."

Relaxing further on the beach, I pondered the teleportation technique's other odd rule. Supposedly you can only go horizontal fully and only partially vertical, but if you're out in space, how would that work? What about right now? Laying down like this technically puts the sky as horizontal to me. Does that mean depending on whatever direction is directly in front and behind me is considered horizontal?

Focusing on a point in the sky, I tried to apply this reasoning and teleported. Next thing I know, I'm miles up in the air, and I'm flailing around since I'm now quite quickly falling back to the ground. Calming myself as best I could, I forced myself to try and flip over so that I'm falling belly first, then spread out my arms and legs to slow my fall. I contemplated how I'm going to get down without ending up making a crater. At first I considered teleporting back to the ground, but I'm not sure if I'd still be maintaining the speed I'm at right now. Unfortunately the ground is getting far too close for comfort, and I'd rather not test out how well my armor handles high impacts, even if in theory I should survive the fall just fine. Quickly, I teleport back up into the sky, only to find to my surprise that once I'd gone back up, that my momentum had halted. A teleporting ability that arrests momentum? That's like a blatent F-you to physics!

Slowly falling back down once more, I notice through the connection that my Queens are panicking wondering how I'm going to get down safely. Quickly, I teleport back down to the ground since I now know that nothing will happen. What did happen though is now I'm face down on the ground, wondering if I'd been wrong and I'd actually hit the ground at high speed after all. Nothing hurts though, except for my nose.

The next thing I know, I'm being flipped over and being hugged and checked for injuries by my Queens. I smiled, and soon enough they seemed to feel relief, though now some of them are getting angry. Asura in particular.

"What was that? Couldn't you have found a safer way to test if you could pull what you just did off? If everything hadn't worked out, you might have died!" Asura continued in this vein, until she finally wound down. At that point, I drew her into a hug and said gently, "Thank you for caring." Asura sighed and said, "At least warn us next time?" I nodded and said, "That's fair. We should definitely test this out. To be honest, I wasn't sure it would actually work, but since it does, this circumvents the inability to travel vertically rather nicely."

My Queens nodded, and we spent the rest of the morning practicing traveling around with our teleportation ability. Being able to go up into the sky in particular, combined with the rush teleportation already has, made the experience even more exhilarating. Maybe once I get a Cerebrate, I can have it alter the ability to allow full vertical teleportation. As it is landing on your face just to get to ground is kind of annoying. We did try experimenting to land on our hands and knees, but it wouldn't work. I guess that somehow still counts as horizontal to the horizon somehow, rather than the sky. What would also be nice is if the cerebrate can also allow us the option to choose if we maintain momentum after the teleport or not. Flinging myself through the sky just sounds like too much fun not to try it. As it is, right now we're stuck going up a certain height, then twisting ourselves around so that we're horizontal to the horizon to go any length of distance. All in all, it's really kind of annoying.

After a time, my stomach finally growled loud enough for me to notice, and I landed myself back on the ground to get some creep. My Queens landed around me doing the same. My hunger satisfied for now, I contemplated a few things. Eating reminded me of the apple juice I'd made those few nights ago, and wondered if I could recreate anything else from Earth. All in all, there's quite a few things I miss. Food alone has a vast variety of things that I miss. With a start I realized that if I don't find Earth, I might never eat a Reeses ever again, let alone any of the other stuff I kinda took for granted while I was there.

Like the music. I'm a big music fan, and I listen to music all the time, but now I've gone two weeks without it. I miss listening to my music. I wonder if I could find some way to recreate it through the Zerg… although I don't see how, it's a nice though anyways. Staring out over the ocean, I couldn't help but start to hum to myself. Of all songs I could've picked though, I picked to start humming Weezer's Island in the Sun. Too bad I can't remember the words all that well… In fact I can't remember how the song goes! I've been humming the beginning of the song over and over for the past few minutes. How embarrassing. I switched tunes to Jason Mraz's 'Lazy Song'. I can't help grinning whenever I think of this song.

Before I got very far though, Joy interrupted me asking, "What is that?"

I turned to her and asked, "What's what?"

She gestured with her hand towards myself and said, "That sound your making."

I answered, "Oh! I'm humming. I miss the music I used to listen to on Earth. I was just thinking about it and started humming the tune to a song that I like."

Surprisingly, I now had all the Queens as Snow asked, "What's music?"

I seriously had to sweatdrop at the point. How do you explain music exactly?

"Music is… music is sound… making sounds that are pleasing to hear, that are usually set to a single rhythm, and has a melody and even harmonies."

"What's a melody?" asked Rose.

"Er… well, a melody is… it's a set of notes that fit together, sounding good together. Harmonies is when you sing two melodies together and they sound good together."

Even Asura seems interested and asked, "Can you give us an example of music?"

I nodded, and after thinking a moment, I settled on a song, "Alright I'm going to start off with something simple. The song is called, "Row Row Your Boat."

I sang it for them twice, letting them hear the melody, and had to grin at the various looks of concentration on their faces. If you'd told me two weeks ago I'd be teaching Zerg Queens music I'd have wondered what you were smoking.

Joy had a small smile on her face and said, "That song sounds fun!" Then she sang it herself, amazingly with perfect pitch too. All the other Queens jumped in and I had to reel my jaw in at the realization that they ALL have perfect pitch! Either that or they just have the greatest ears for music I've ever heard, which wouldn't surprise me considering I have the same thing. I can sing any note, and even harmonize to stuff on the fly so long as I'm using my voice as my instrument. I wonder if they got it from me?

Grinning, I taught them about rounds and pretty soon we're having fun singing Row Row Your Boat as a round. After a bout of this, I laughed and said, "Alright, you've got melody and harmony down, now Rhythm. The single most obvious rhythm is the march of time. Each second as it passes is a rhythm. It never changes and stays the same. Each second has 60 beats per minute, or BPM. If you sped up the rhythm to two beats per second, that'd be 120 BPM. Most really fun songs are set in the range of 160 BPM." While I explained this, I did my best to give examples of each rhythm, though I can't be sure if I'm exact or not. I don't have a watch or anything after all.

"Now the way rhythm fits into music is pretty simple." That said, I sang Row Row Your Boat again, but this time I tapped the rhythm out on my knee, and my Queen's eyes lit up in recognition, finally getting it. Nodding, I said, "Now, that's basic rhythm. In music, the person who usually keeps the rhythm is the drummer, but just keeping that simple rhythm gets boring. That's where dividing the beat up gets fun. Asura, give me a good rhythm. Just pat your knee."

Asura started out with a good rhythm and I nodded, saying, "Keep that rhythm up. I'll show you what you a little of what a drummer can do within a rhythm while still keeping it." Closing my eyes, I started drumming my knees in time with Asura before slowly but surely making the drumming further and further complex, having fun with it. After a few minutes of this, I smiled and opened my eyes, looking each of my Queens in the eyes and asked, "Understand?" They each nodded, Joy especially. I can see a budding musician in that one especially.

Smiling, I told them, "Music is one of the most versatile of the Arts. Just about any sound can be used in music if you put it to rhythm and give it a melody. On Earth, there are many ways to create music. Just some examples of these instruments of music are the voice, you can drum on just about anything, breathing through tubes and shells can produce sound that can be put to melody, strumming taught strings can produce sounds that can be put to melody. There are so many various instruments, hundreds even, and that was before humanity learned to synthesize music with electronics."

"Synthesize?" "Electronics?" Faye and Asura asked at the same time. I had to sweatdrop there. My Queens really know nothing outside of the Zerg, in fact I had to wonder… "Do you girls know how to read?"

"What's that?" Asked Joy. I really did sweatdrop at that. They can do large number math in their head, yet don't know how to read. Strange doesn't even begin to describe this situation. I figure if I have to start somewhere, I should start with reading. Now what to use to write? I'd use the sand, but the creep is covering it. Casting about with my minds eye, I found a spot where the creep hadn't spread yet and stood up and told my Queens to follow me.

Teleporting over to the spot, I directed a Lair to fire a spine near us and I used it as a writing utensil to draw them symbols in the dirt. I explained about the symbols themselves, starting with math since that's something they know. I showed them the symbols for the numbers themselves and how to do math that way. Then I spelled out the entire alphabet, naming the letters and the sounds each make, then spelling out there names using it. I explained that since humanity doesn't have mental connections like we do, this, other than talking, is the basis of their communication. By the time I'd finished, the sun hung low in the sky, and at this point I wished I could just open up my head and dump my knowledge in their brains. It's not like they're not learning. They're actually quite good students, picking up everything I told them rather quickly. It's just the sheer amount of what there is to teach them is extremely daunting.

With reading and writing well under way, I elected to take a break and headed back to our Lair. Asura then asked, "Can you teach us about Electonics and what synthesizing music means next?"

I nodded and said, "Yes, in a few minutes." With that I leaned back against my nearest Queen and soon enough I found myself in a pile of warm bodies, relaxing my brain. After a while of this, I spoke from the center of them about electronics. I explained about atoms and electrons first off, which they thankfully knew about already. I explained that humans had found out how to force electrons to move from one atom to the next in a successive line, creating the energy electricity, which is the same way that lightning works. I explained how humans found a way to translate the presence and lack of electricity to an on and off state, and through this, they were able to assign symbols to this, and then symbols were based on these that grew even more and more complex, being capable of doing more and more things.

I explained how this became the process of programming, and how humans found a way to express sound using a hyper sensitive drum much like the one located within our own ears that absorb sound waves, translate that into electrical signals that our brains process. I explained that a speaker is basically the opposite of this, and how with speakers, music could by synthesized since the sound coming from the speaker isn't actually from the original instrument that produced the sound. I explained how after that point humans figured out how to electronically alter the sounds themselves until they sounded unlike anything that you'd hear naturally in the world, and those sounds became new instruments to create music with.

They followed along, absorbing everything I said, and with their questions, they basically picked my brain apart throughout the night, learning more and more until we were interrupted by the ZGA at midnight.

-END CHAPTER-

Overmind mana – 500/500

Zerg Mana – 1,000,540/1,000,000,000

Zerg Supply – 1298/3,629,240 (0 pending)

Units:

1 Overmind

1079 Overlords

101 Drones

11 Speedlings

6 Queens

100 Hydralisks

Structures:

725,848 Lairs (0 pending)

1 Spawning Pool

2 Evolution Chambers

1 Hydralisk Den

1 Roach Warren

1 Baneling Nest


	18. Chapter 18

_Zerg Mana – 354,748,360/1,000,000,000_

I let out a low whistle at that. Considering the rate this is going, I'm going to have enough for level three by either the next night or the night after. I look over at the Queens and said, "Break time from learning. Now to increase the Swarm."

With a chorus of agreements, I observed as they purchased 643,178 Drones and turned them into Lairs, leaving me with 1,000,460 mana. Shaking my head, I had to wonder just how much land I cover exactly. The sheer amount visible to my mind's eye is tremendous, but that doesn't exactly tell me how much land that covers. Thankfully I'd already calculated earlier that each Lair provides about 250 square blocks, or meters, of surface area. With 725,848 Lairs at the moment, that'd give me approximately… 181,462,000 square meters of surface covered. I had to gape at that. A minecraft overworld is only 600 million square meters large… I've already covered approximately 30 percent of the surface of this world!?

I can barely comprehend that I've already gotten so far in less than a month. Granted I know that the Zerg could do comparable things quite easily before I came along. Heck, didn't the Zerg infest most of Mar Sara in only a few days? Although Mar Sara might be quite a bit smaller than this planet… either way, at this rate, I very well might be infesting an entire planet in the span of a day, or maybe even multiple planets!

Shaking my head at just how far we've come and how far we might go, I checked over the Swarm. Seeing the Overlords reminded me that if the teleport technique had worked out, then I'd want to evolve them all the Overseers. After all, I don't really need personal carriers anymore, though I'll still keep one Overlord per Queen and one for me as well. After all, on the off chance that we're incapacitated but not killed, we might not be able to warp away carrying anything… or can we?

Standing up, I explained what I wanted to do, then I picked up Faye and activated teleport. As I expected, she got left behind. Warping back, I went over to the Lair that we're using as storage and grabbed a large chunk of iron the size of Faye and tried to warp with that. This time it worked. So why didn't it work with Faye? Maybe it has to do with her being capable of teleporting herself, or being alive? I'm leaning more towards the former rather than the latter, but there must be a way to test this. Casting around, I spotted a herd of pigs through the Overlords. Warping over and grabbing one before it can slip away, I warp away with it. It worked. I quickly warped it back, then warped back to my Queens and explained my findings.

In that case, we'll need to keep an Overlord each for ourselves unless we can have a cerebrate alter our teleport ability to allow us to take people capable of our version of teleport. It occurred to me that it might be possible that if my Queen IS incapacitated, then I might be able to warp around with her then, but I have no idea how to test that without frying one of their brains out with psi assault and that's not an option. I'm not about to hurt my Queens in the name of science, or to be quite frank, anyone. Ever. I draw the line at tests that require purposeful harm. It's not happening.

With my tests concluded as much as possible, I almost went ahead with turning them all into Overseers, until I remembered that while I may not need them as personnel shuttles anymore, I still need them as gatherers. With that realization, I decided to leave the Overlords alone instead.

Turning back to my Queens, I settled back among them, and they continued to pick my brains for more knowledge. I covered just about anything and everything I could think of as best I could. I can only hope that it's enough though. I still wish I could just download my knowledge into their heads. For all I know there's stuff that I know that I forgot to mention or don't know that I know. It'd also be easier if I could just hand them an encyclopedia or an internet connection, but I don't have either of those.

This whole situation has instilled in me a new goal though. As the Zerg expands and assimilates new strains into the Swarm, I'm also going to have the Swarm collect knowledge, technology, and culture as well.

As my mind wandered a little as it's wont to do, I realized something and I turned to Asura and asked, "I thought you didn't know how to read?"

Confused, she answered, "I don't. I only know the little bit you've taught us."

"Then why were you trying to read those books that the historian of the village had?"

Asura blinked and asked, "That was writing? I thought it was just strange pictures. I tried to figure out if they looked like anything I'd seen before, but they didn't. I couldn't understand them at all. Even so, I knew they had those books for a reason, so I tried to figure out there secrets."

"Why?" I asked. She rubbed her other arm and said, "I was curious. I like learning new things. It's one of the first things that developed when you gave me free will."

My other Queens agreed with this, concurring that that was one of the first things they experienced as well. Knowing now that Asura hadn't really learned anything from those books to tell me, I made a mental note to go check those books as soon as the sun had risen. Until then, my Queens continued asking me various questions, and I did my best to satisfy their curiosity. Part way through the night, Joy started trying out making music herself, using her voice and drumming on her lap. There were a few false starts before she huffed and said, "Doing two instruments at once is hard!"

I chuckled and replied, "That's why most people only master playing one at a time. Very few people actually try to combine them, but when they do they usually only try to do that with two instruments they know so well that using them is almost instinctual."

She nodded, and started singing instead and had a much easier time of it. She didn't sing about anything in particular, but it was very pleasant to listen to. We spent the rest of the night making music.

When the sun rose, we made our way to the village. Thomas greeted us, asking us about why we're visiting. I explained that I wanted to see their books. Thomas nodded and lead us to the library. I greeted the historian, snobbish boor that he is, then asked about his books. He explained most of them are blank, ready to be filled with the writing of current and future generations. He showed me where the latest writings were going back to the earliest. I pulled out the earliest book and went about reading it.

Not even two pages in, I found myself bored out of my mind. The thing read like a journal, and a very dry one at that, pointing out seasons, deaths, and births mainly. Record keeping at its finest. Steeling myself, I pushed on, reading more and more, skimming more and more to try and get through it all.

The second book thankfully had a little more life in it, but it's subject matter was still not all that great. It seems these people don't do innovation really, or at least they didn't, far more focused on trying to survive this world.

It was the sixteenth book that I finally found something interesting. Records showed one of the villagers spotted a new kind of mob, one they'd never seen before. It looked like a zombie, only with skin similar to the villagers and bearing tools. After that, the records had various trades listed in them that this new mob, whom I'm now certain was Steve, the main character of Minecraft, had made with the villagers. This continued on in this vain until by the seventeenth book he'd abruptly disappeared.

None of the books past that point make any mention of him, even to the 58th book, which is the one the current historian is writing himself. During all this reading, my Queens came and went, I took breaks to eat and stretch. Once I'd finished, I stretched and put the last book away, turning to the historian, I asked, "Are these books all the knowledge available in the village? Any stories passed by word of mouth?" The historian started to shake his head, before he got a thoughtful look on his face and said, "There are a few stories told to the children for bedtime stories. They aren't recorded in here and would have changed over the years."

Nodding, I went out looking for Thomas. I found him plowing his fields, though why he still does that with the creep around, I'll never understand.

Calling out to him I said, "Hey Thomas! Can I ask you some questions?"

Thomas wiped his brow and leaned against his spade, brushing his abnormally long nose shared by the rest of the villagers and said, "Sure."

Nodding, I came up to him and asked if he had any stories that wouldn't have been recorded in the historian's library, such as myths or legends. Thomas seemed to grow pensive, then said, "There are a couple, most just bedtime stories meant to help the children get to sleep or make sure they behave. Some are about the small nosed stranger, some are adventure stories of villagers who braved stepping out of the village, and some are about the monster man in the mists. What would you like to hear?"

At that last one, a bit of color drained from my face, and I asked, "Can you tell me about that last one? The monster man in the mists?"

Thomas nodded and said, "Why don't we go inside?"

I nodded and we went into the house adjoined to the field Thomas had been tilling and he passed me a metal cup of water, taking one for himself, which we both drained, and he refilled both our glasses, before beginning.

"The story of the monster man in the mists actually starts with the story of the small nosed man. It's told to young children the story of the small nosed man who did nothing but adventure and stayed out among the monsters. The adventures this man gets up to are many and varied, but his last one leads into the story of the monster man in the mists. It tells about how the small nosed man met his match in a similar looking person, only this person had blank white eyes. The monster man killed the small nose man and you could see him when the mists roll in. Of course this is just a story. The last time the mists rolled in was several generations ago, and no mention of this monster man was mentioned then. The story is to convince kids not to wander off from the village. Children are precious to us. We can't afford to lose any, not that we will anymore! We have you to thank for that. You remind me of some of the stories of the small nosed man actually. The fact that you have a small nose yourself along with your Queens helps that."

I nodded and asked, "Do the small nose man or the monster man have names?" Thomas shrugged and said, "Dunno. I do know when I was told those stories I liked to pretend I was the small nose man off on adventures, but that ended when I found out about the monster man. I didn't fancy meeting anything like that. Why? Have you seen this monster man?"

I shuddered and said, "No and I pray I never do."

Thomas gave me a quizzical look, then said, "You know something."

I nodded dejectedly, "I do, though I'd hoped I was wrong. The fact that you even have stories about the monster man increases the chance that he actually exists. The small nosed man's name was Steve. He appeared in this world in the same manner I did. He just popped up. Unlike him, I have an advantage though in that I command the Zerg. I've taken steps to try and make myself more powerful than the monster man, but I'm not anywhere near able to pull that off yet. Unlike Steve though, I came here forewarned to some degree. I was at least aware of places like this world before I got here."

Thomas Farmer nodded seriously and asked, "Is this something I should bring before the attention of the council?"

I shook my head and said, "No. It's one thing to have bedtime stories using the monster man as the proverbial boogie man, but if anyone has to face this monster man if he does exist, then it'll probably be me."

Thomas nodded, then downed his glass of water. I did the same then made to get up. We made our way out of his house making small talk. Before I left, Thomas asked, "You said the name of the small nosed man was Steve. Did the monster man have a name too?" I nodded, as serious as I could possibly be, and answered, "I know his name, but it's said that if you say his name three times, it summons him to come after you, so I don't dare say it once."

Thomas shuddered and replied, "Say no more. I fear I'm going to have nightmares tonight just from our talk alone."

"Here's wishing you don't. See you around Thomas."

Waving goodbye, I warped back to the Lair, seriously disturbed. With what amounts to confirmation now, I'm seriously starting to wonder if I should pull out from the planet. I may be impervious to most things HE can do now, but all the same, he's impervious to just about anything I could do to him too. I honestly don't know what I'd do if he showed up. I can only hope that my PSI Assault or PSI Storm could affect him.

It didn't take long for the rest of my Queens to show up. I'm glad to have them with me as they cuddle me, obviously sensing that I needed the contact. After a while, I finally relaxed, able to finally dismiss thoughts of HIM from my mind. By now night had fallen, and my new Lairs had finished a good while ago. With over a million of them available, 1,369,026 to be exact, I couldn't wait to see how much mana I'd get tonight. Of course, I could just calculate it but that wouldn't be as fun. Settling back into my Queens I set in for a wait, spending this time just relaxing with my Queens until midnight and my mana deposit.

-END CHAPTER-

Overmind mana – 500/500

Zerg Mana – 1,000,460/1,000,000,000

Zerg Supply – 1298/6,845,130 (0 pending)

Units:

1 Overmind

1079 Overlords

101 Drones

11 Speedlings

6 Queens

100 Hydralisks

Structures:

1,369,026 Lairs (0 pending)

1 Spawning Pool

2 Evolution Chambers

1 Hydralisk Den

1 Roach Warren

1 Baneling Nest


	19. Chapter 19

_Zerg Mana – 647,875,345/1,000,000,000 _

_Mana required for Evolution: ACQUIRED._

_Evolve to Level 3?_

I grinned in excitement. I turned to the Queens, taking in their excitement as well. I'm glad I'd given them free will, or they might have already spent a good chunk of my mana on drones and lairs already.

"Are we ready to evolve?" I asked.

A chorus of agreement is my answer.

Nodding, I said, "Here it goes then!"

_Evolve to Level 3?_

_Yes._

The by now familiar sac formed over my person and filled with liquid. I didn't bother breathing it in, having learned to not need to breathe. A familiar jolt causes me to breathe it in anyway. Oh well. It's not all that bad, just a little odd.

_Evolution Level 3_

_New Buildings:_

_Hive (Lair obsolete)_

_Nydus Network_

_Spire_

_Infestation Pit_

_New Units:_

_Infestors_

_Nydus Worms_

_Mutalisks_

_Guardians_

_Corruptors_

_Scourge_

_New Evolutions:_

_Centrifugal Hooks – Increases speed of Banelings_

_Glial Reconstitution – Increases speed and regeneration of Roaches_

_Grooved Spines – Increased Attack Range of Hydralisks_

_Burrow Move – Ability to move underground when burrowed, applies to all units_

_Overmind Lv 3_

_Health – 300/300_

_Mana – 2500/2500_

_Abilities:_

_Abilities:_

_Spawn Hive (200 Mana) – Grows a Zerg Lair at your current location (12 hours)_

_Burrow – (0 Mana) – Go underground; unable to move; can only be detected by sensors_

_Burrow Move – Ability to move underground when burrowed_

_Transfusion – (50 Mana) – Instantly transfer 125 health to biological unit or structure_

_Shapeshift – (0 Mana) – Take on the appearance of any target similar in size_

_Adamantium Armor – (Passive) – All physical type damage is blocked 100%_

_PSI Assault (1 Mana) – Casts a focused PSI attack at one enemy _

_PSI Storm (50 Mana) – Casts a localized storm of PSI energy_

_PSI Guantlet Lvl 2 (Passive) – Mana Above 0; Strength increased by factor of 20_

_PSI Armor Lvl 2 (Passive) – Mana Above 0; All attacks do 50% less damage_

_PSI Sensor (Passive) – Mana Above 0; Able to detect cloaked, burrowed, and hallucinated units_

_Teleport Lvl 1 – (0 Mana) – Able to teleport within range of vision; full horizontal/slight vertical_

_Mandatory Evolutions Complete_

_Access the Zerg Genetic Archive?_

_Yes._

_Welcome to the Zerg Genetic Archive. _

_Input command_

_:Apply Burrow Move to buildings._

_Unable to comply. Requirement Burrow and Cerebrate needed._

_:Well… that's basically all I've got… ah what the heck, evolve teleport ability to allow full vertical movement._

_Unable to comply. Cerebrate needed._

_:It was worth a shot. Apply photosynthesis ability to Zerg units and buildings._

_Command accepted._

_:Woah really? I hadn't expected that. I guess it'll be an alternate source of food on the off chance we can't get to any creep I guess. Exit the ZGA._

_Command Accepted._

_Overmind Lv 3_

_Health – 300/300_

_Mana – 2500/2500_

_Abilities:_

_Spawn Hive (200 Mana) – Grows a Zerg Lair at your current location (12 hours)_

_Burrow – (0 Mana) – Go underground; unable to move; can only be detected by sensors_

_Burrow Move – Ability to move underground when burrowed_

_Transfusion – (50 Mana) – Instantly transfer 125 health to biological unit or structure_

_Shapeshift – (0 Mana) – Take on the appearance of any target similar in size_

_Adamantium Armor – (Passive) – All physical type damage is blocked 100%_

_PSI Assault (1 Mana) – Casts a focused PSI attack at one enemy _

_PSI Storm (50+ Mana) – Casts a localized storm of PSI energy_

_PSI Guantlet Lvl 2 (Passive) – Mana Above 0; Strength increased by factor of 20_

_PSI Armor Lvl 2 (Passive) – Mana Above 0; All attacks do 50% less damage_

_PSI Sensor (Passive) – Mana Above 0; Able to detect cloaked, burrowed, and hallucinated units_

_Teleport Lvl 1 – (0 Mana) – Able to teleport within range of vision; full horizontal/slight vertical_

_Photosynthesis (Passive) – Ability to obtain partial sustance from light sources_

_Zerg Mana – 795,750,690/1,000,000,000,000_

_Mana required for evolution: 500,000,000,000_

Waking up once more, I could hardly believe some of the things that had been changed by this latest Evolution. The entire Swarm can now use underground move. I didn't expect that at all. I knew that some of my units would be able to move underground, and I'd had plans to apply that evolution to the Swarm, but it looks like I don't need to anymore. And that PSI guantlet! If there was a way to compress an entire mountain into a ball, I'd probably be able to lift it up or something! Well, not really, but being able to lift something akin to 5 tons is pretty amazing. I'd probably be able to dig just by hitting the ground as hard as I could now.

I'm still surprised Photosynthesis actually worked. I'm also really glad that it didn't turn my skin green or anything, not that it would've really mattered. I could just use shapeshift to change it back. My biggest surprise though is my own mana store. What the heck am I going to do with 2500 mana? It's not like I have anything that'll even come close to draining that! I suppose it's nice though, just in case I start getting abilities later on that really sink into my mana stores.

My Queens in the meantime had gotten up and stretched, then arrayed themselves around me, waiting for orders it seems. Before I could though, I was interupted by the ZGA.

_Ghast strain completed._

_Blaze Strain completed._

_Zombie pigman strain completed._

_Evolution Type Unlocked: Magic_

What the hell just happened? I focused on the Hives in the Nether and replayed what happened since we awoke. I watched as the Hive burst forth, only to be surrounded by a literal army of Ghasts, Blazes, and Zombie Pigmen hammering away at the sacs containing my drones and Hydralisks. Now I'm really glad that I had absorbed Adamantium into the Zerg, otherwise that would've been an unmitigated slaughter. Well… it still was, but the other way around once my Hydralisks woke up. A lot of the Ghasts and Blazes had fallen into the lava and incinerated, but the rest were enough for the drones to drag into the evolution chamber as per my orders, and there are still corpses being dragged into the evolution chamber right now too. Interestingly enough, the Zombie Pigman strain hadn't even been collecting, just like the other zombies and skeletons I'd tried with, but then those were dead. This time the Zombie Pigman had fallen in and been absorbed mere seconds after the sacs had burst from the evolution. I guess being alive made all the difference.

I sent out the order to just push the rest of the bodies into the lava for now, then activated the ZGA.

_Welcome to the Zerg Genetic Archive._

_Input Command._

_:Bring up the stats on the Ghast, Blaze, and Zombie Pigman strains._

_Command accepted._

_Ghast_

_Health-20/20_

_Abilities:_

_Explosive Fireball – Shoots an explosive ball of fire at the target; fireball unaffected by gravity;consistancy of fireball allows for deflection by opposing opposite force_

_Fire immunity – 100% immune to heat, fire, lava, etc._

_Flight – Ability to fly provided by manipulated sac similar to Overlord_

_Blaze_

_Health-40/40_

_Abilities:_

_Fire Charge – Shoots rapid balls of fire in three round bursts after each charge_

_Fire Immunity – 100% immune to heat, fire, lava, etc._

_Water Weakness – 100% weakened/damaged by water, snow, rain, etc._

_Self Combustion – Ability to wrap yourself in flames spontaneously_

_Flight – Flame propulsion provides lift (Ability: Flight: Flame propulsion unlocked)_

_Animated – an inanimate object given a limited form of life through animation. (Ability: Animation Unlocked) _

_Zombie Pigman_

_Health-40/40_

_Abilities:_

_Reanimated – A cadavar given limited life through necromantic reanimation. (Ability: Reanimation Unlocked)_

Huh. I wonder…

_:List abilities available under the evolution type: Magic._

_Evolution Type: Magic_

_Subtype: Elemental_

_Category: Arcane_

_Category: Fire_

_Flight: Flame Propulsion – Ability to fly using the thrust of conjured flame_

_Explosive Fireball - Shoots an explosive ball of fire at the target; fireball unaffected by gravity; consistency of fireball allows for deflection by opposing opposite force_

_Fire Charge – Shoots rapid balls of fire in three round bursts after each charge_

_Fire Immunity - 100% immune to heat, fire, lava, etc._

_Self Combustion – Ability to wrap yourself in flames spontaneously_

_Category: Water_

_Water Weakness: 100% weakened/damaged by water, snow, rain, etc._

_Subtype: Necromancy_

_Category: Life_

_Animation – Ability to give inananimate objects a limited form of life subject to the will of the user_

_Reanimation – Ability to give limited for of life to deceased biologicals subject to the will of the user_

Well holy freaking crap! That's crazy! I had thought about the idea of magic being something I could unlock as an evolutionary type, but I never expected it to actually happen! I reexamined the list of abilities listed under magic and noticed something odd.

_:Why is the teleport and water weakness not listed under evolution type: Magic?_

_Enderman ability to teleport and water weakness is a physical type evolution._

_:How the heck is the ability to teleport a physical ability?_

_Ability: Teleport is a physical type evolution due to the Enderman's physical manipulation of the Ender Pearl, an item imbedded within the Enderman. The enderman then evolved to manipulate the Ender Pearl directly from within their own bodies. Whether the evolution to manipulate the Ender Pearl was a natural or forced process is unknown._

_:So when I teleport, my body is physically manipulating an Ender Pearl imbedded within my body in order to do so, and the physical evolution aspect of it is just my body physically adapting to the use of the Ender Pearl?_

_Correct._

_:What allows the Ender Pearl to enable the ability to teleport?_

_Unknown. Further study required by cerebrate or cerebrate geneticist._

_:Or a Cerebrate artificer…_

_Unknown command_

So it's more likely that the Ender Pearl itself is magical, but teleporting with it is a physical act? That's an extremely fine line the ZGA is treading with that definition there. The thing I have to wonder though is how can the Zerg incorporate magical abilities into physical evolutions? Even incorporating psionics into physical evolutions is a bit sketchy, but at least that has more to do with the brain than anything. What does magic have to do with?

_:How is it possible for magic and psionics to be manipulated by the Zerg?_

_Psionics and magic are energies stimulated by different parts of the mind. Evolving certain parts of the brain allows for usage of psionic and magical abilities._

Wow that actually made a lot of sense… purely mental arts huh? I'm surprised my brain isn't as large as a Protoss' is at this point.

_:What is the cost to evolve the swarm to become fire immune, shoot fire charges and explosive fireballs, and have Flight: Flame propulsion?_

_500,000 mana._

Hm, good to know. I know that not long ago, I'd asked a similar question of the ZGA about how much each type of evolution costs and it answered 500,000 for each type of evolution, so I'm glad to know that hasn't changed with the level up of the swarm. It's one thing if I have to pay a million mana to have a physical and magical evolution. It'd be another if the price had increased to a billion with the level up.

Still though, with such evolutions available, I think we'll be spending the next 24 hours evolving again. Turning to my Queens, I said, "Let's get to work spreading the creep out. Meanwhile, I'm going to spend some mana purchasing the new buildings available to us. Afterwards, we're going to evolve again to incorporate our new magical abilities."

The Queens nodded that they understood and immediately set to work. Soon I had 1,222,693 Hives in the making. I would have had more, but the Hive costs 600 mana instead of the 500 of the Lair or the 400 of the Hatchery. I suppose it makes sense considering the Hives are far larger and tougher than even the Lairs. Also, to my delight, my Hives look more like their Starcraft 1 appearance, so the tops of the four tusks look like they end in dragon skulls, which is unbelievably cool looking, especially when combined with the color scheme my Zerg have. It's also very appropriate that the spines the dragon tusks fire come from the 'mouth' of the dragon skull, though by the end of the evolution, hopefully they'll more appropriately breathe fire along with the spines.

Still though, I'm now down to 1,000,240. Hopefully, that'll be enough to cover the new buildings on top of the evolution. Building three drones and checking their build command lists, I grinned. The three new buildings together would only cost me 900 mana total, with the Infestation Pit costing 200 mana, and the other two costing 350 each. With that information, I quickly ordered my Spire, Nydus Network, and Infestation Pit. The two more expensive ones will take two hours to finish, with the Infestation Pit finishing in one, but by the time the evolution is finished, that won't matter.

That finished, and the new Hives on the way, I turned to my Queens, then after confirmation that the Swarm is ready, I activated the ZGA.

_Welcome to the Zerg Genetic Archive._

_Input Command._

_:Evolve the Swarm. Add the ability to shoot explosive fireballs and fire charges to Hives, Queens, and myself. Add fire immunity and self combustion to the entire Swarm. Add Flight: Flame Propulsion to all units of the Zerg. Add animation and reanimation to myself and my Queens._

_Command Processing…_

_Warning! A number of these abilities require mana to use! All individual Zerg receiving these abilities will acquire their own regenerating mana stores separated from the Overmind and Swarm mana stores. _

_Continue?_

_Yes._

-END CHAPTER-

Overmind mana – 2500/2500

Zerg Mana – 499,340/1,000,000,000,000

Zerg Supply – 1298/6,845,130 (6,113,465 pending)

Units:

1 Overmind

1079 Overlords

101 Drones

11 Speedlings

6 Queens

100 Hydralisks

Structures:

1,369,026 Hives (1,222,693 pending)

1 Spawning Pool

2 Evolution Chambers

1 Hydralisk Den

1 Roach Warren

1 Baneling Nest


	20. Chapter 20

_Overmind Lv 3_

_Health – 300/300_

_Mana – 2500/2500_

_Abilities:_

_Spawn Hive (200 Mana) – Grows a Zerg Lair at your current location (12 hours)_

_Burrow – (0 Mana) – Go underground; unable to move; can only be detected by sensors_

_Burrow Move – Ability to move underground when burrowed_

_Transfusion – (50 Mana) – Instantly transfer 125 health to biological unit or structure_

_Shapeshift – (0 Mana) – Take on the appearance of any target similar in size_

_Adamantium Armor – (Passive) – All physical type damage is blocked 100%_

_PSI Assault (1 Mana) – Casts a focused PSI attack at one enemy _

_PSI Storm (50+ Mana) – Casts a localized storm of PSI energy_

_PSI Guantlet Lvl 2 (Passive) – Mana Above 0; Strength increased by factor of 20_

_PSI Armor Lvl 2 (Passive) – Mana Above 0; All attacks do 50% less damage_

_PSI Sensor (Passive) – Mana Above 0; Able to detect cloaked, burrowed, and hallucinated units_

_Teleport Lvl 1 – (0 Mana) – Able to teleport within range of vision; full horizontal/slight vertical_

_Photosynthesis (Passive) – Ability to obtain partial sustance from light sources_

_Flight: Flame Propulsion (1 Mana per second) – Fly using the thrust of conjured flame_

_Fire Immunity (Passive) – Mana above 0; 100% immune to heat, fire, lava, etc._

_Self Combustion (1 Mana per second) – Wrap yourself in flames spontaneously_

_Exploding Fireball (5 Mana) – Explodes on contact, not affected by gravity, spreads flame, deflected by opposing opposite force_

_Fire Charge (2 Mana) – Shoots rapid balls of fire in three round bursts after each charge_

_Animation (10 Mana) - Give inananimate objects a limited form of life; enslaved_

_Reanimation (15 Mana) – Give limited life to the biological deceased; enslaved_

_Zerg Mana – 653,277,660/1,000,000,000,000_

I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing such a large amount of mana being dumped into my mana stores. I watch with a sense of pride as my Zerg hatches out of the latest evolution. Just for the heck of it, I order a Hydralisk to fly around the Nether a little. It looks weird, but it's still a successful test. Rocket propelled Mutalisks should be even faster, and it'll be nice for my Overlords to be even faster than before. If I had to guess, they'd been going at 40 MPH before that speed upgrade putting them up to 60 to 80 MPH. Now they're going at probably around 200 MPH. That's a much nicer speed.

Looking over at my brand new Nydus Network, a strange chill runs up my spine which prompts me to quickly glance around and do a quick scan through the eyes of my Swarm, but I don't notice anything unusual. I'm about to dismiss it, before a shockwave rocks the ground, causing me to stumble a little.

The heck was that!? There aren't supposed to be Earthquakes in Minecraft! Then again, this world is more realistic than usual so maybe that isn't the case. Or that's what I thought until the nearest Lair spotted a plume of dust and dirt rising out of the pit we'd dug out earlier. Focusing on it, My Lair spotted something floating above that nearly made me crap myself.

My Queens had quickly formed a defensive ring around me as soon as the shockwave hit, not expecting anything of the sort. If not for the spike of fear, they might have relaxed, but that made them tense even more.

"What is it?" Asked Asura. I mentally pointed out to them the disturbance on the mental map and answered, "It's him…"

My Queens gulped, and I teleported near to the pit with them quickly following behind. I looked up at my nightmare on this world turned reality, and spoke one word.

"Herobrine."

He looked down at us from his position up high in the air, his eyes glowing a bright almost sinister white. Then his head tilted and words boomed into our head.

**DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'VE DONE?**

I shook my head, not trusting myself to speak. His words literally send chills of fear crawling down my spine just listening to him.

Suddenly he disappeared.

Then he's inches from my face, still with his head cocked to the side.

**OBSERVE.**

As soon as he said that last word, an image of the world inverted flashed into my mind, the colors all wrong, as if even the colors themselves had been inverted, but all in black and white anyway, with flecks of those particles from the void floating down into the strange ground, or was it up? I can barely tell, it hardly makes sense. Everything just seems… wrong. There's a seeming large round ball floating in the sky giving off flecks of red and black, and the sky on the other side of it looks like more ground. It takes me a moment before I understand what I'm seeing. It's the Void.

As soon as I realize this, I feel as almost an afterimage, the completion of the evolution we just went through. Not even a second later, the ground burst open and large Nydus Worms tunneled into the false sky of the Void. The twisting body went everywhere, spreading throughout the entire planet, piercing the center ball that I realize now is the Nether, and entering the ground again in just about every spot available.

Just like that the vision faded, and I realized what had happened. I'd been trying so hard to avoid Herobrine, only to create a creature that spans the interior of whatever planet it's built on. That certainly explains how the Nydus Network works, but if there was one way I'd have given anything to not introduce myself to Herobrine, it would've been full scale invasion, and that's pretty much exactly what happened.

As soon as the vision faded, I noticed that Herobrine was back up in the sky exactly where he'd been before. I had to wonder if he'd actually been there or not. The very fact that he could do such a thing with his teleport scared the crap out of me. At least the Ender Pearl teleport had become somewhat traceable by those who used it. It almost looked like the person blurred an instant before they disappeared. Herobrine's teleport though, it was like he wasn't even there at all!

Looking up at the blank face, gulping, I asked, "I could remove the Nydus Worms from your land, would that help?"

Herobrine's face didn't change at all. His blank face and creepy glowing white eyes really unnerving me. His lack of reaction in and of itself seemed to be the answer. No, no it would not.

**BEWARE LITTLE FLEA, YOUR OBLIVION IS AT HAND.**

The next instant I found myself flying through the air having been simultaneously struck my lightning and punched so hard in the gut, that I'm almost clear to the next island. Activating my flame propulsion for the first time, I stabilized myself, floating in midair. I turned to face Herobrine, only to find that he'd disappeared.

I looked around, trying to spot him, as well as eyeing my mental map, but it's like he'd simply disappeared out of existence. The next instant though, I knew it wasn't over. Far from it. With a clap of thunder, lightning struck the ground all over my creep, and the next I knew, it is filled with holes two meters wide leading to what I knew would be traps. That wasn't the only effect though. Every single tree on and around my creep had been stripped of all their leaves, and strange pyramid shapes had grown underneath parts of my Creep. And to top it all off, giant letters composed of glowstone were littered everywhere on my Creep, all of them letters from Herobrine's name.

The first thing I did as retaliation is have my hives target the letters and shatter them into dust. As soon as this started happening, each time a letter was destroyed, lightning filled the sky, replacing the letters as soon as they were destroyed, resulting in a near constant boom of thunder as each new letter was subsequently destroyed and replaced. While this was happening, I spotted Herobrine below me staring up at me. As soon as I looked down at him, he disappeared in a puff of black smoke.

For my part, I could only be glad that thanks to my hives, Herobrine had been stalemated for the moment, since his powers are concentrated on renewing the letters. I can only hope he isn't as free to move about as I am while this is happening. The true problem though is how can I go about trying to operate inspite of Herobrine? My Queens had quickly joined me in a huddle around my person while I thought.

I realized in the end, the only real thing that would come of this is Herobrine making a nuisance of himself. He can't hurt me with either his lightning or super strength, he can't trap me thanks to my own teleport abilities, and he can't harm anything else of mine since they're just as immune to his strength and lightning. Reciprocally though, I can't really do anything to him either. His own teleport is better than mine, so it's not like I can even try to take advantage of it in trapping him. His own immunity renders most of my offensive capabilities moot, and he has nothing to protect, so I can't get to him that way.

While I'm thinking, a lightning bolt lances down and strikes me again, though no punch accompanies it this time. It tingles. I can only be glad that I'm immune to physical damage, since the lightning is following the path of least resistance and is tracing it's way throughout my adamantium flesh, but leaving everything else alone. I am a bit surprised at that since I know this Adamantium isn't a metal, so the fact that it conducts electricity almost perfectly is a bit of a surprise.

Most importantly though, this is when the realization that Herobrine truly can't do anything to me hit. I almost felt giddy with relief, and with it came the realization that I'M FLYING! My laughter started out low, but soon it became a whoop of joy as I shot off as fast as this flame propulsion could let me go. I'm certainly not going at the speeds of the Human Torch, but it's still pretty darn fast!

Of course, Herobrine had to ruin my fun by appearing right in front of my flight path and sending me flying with another punch. I soon had control of my momentum though as I rocketed off in the other direction. My Queens by this point, had come out of their stupor at my seeming apparent lack of concern to the worst happening, and followed me at a semi sedate pace.

All bets were called off though as soon as Joy was sent flying by a punch though. It seems Herobrine isn't just targetting me then. I have to figure out how I'm going to put a stop to this, or just abandon the planet. Of course, there's no guarantee that just leaving would stop Herobrine. Once you catch his attention, he doesn't stop until you're dead and stay dead. I figured at this point it's time to try out the big guns.

Waiting for just the right moment when Herobrine would appear, I hovered in middair, keeping a close eye to my surroundings with all my eyes. It didn't take long for Herobrine to show up once more to attack. As soon as he appeared, I cast PSI Assault at him. He burst into black smoke from the attack, but for a second there the attack had stunned him. Not a surprise kind of stun, but a mental lock up kind of stun.

Still though, I kept my eyes peeled. I could destroy his body like that, but it wouldn't actually kill him. Actually it might not even be his real body. The way he burst into smoke like that might suggest an ability to clone himself. If that's true, I had to wonder where his real body might be. Then I realized. Of course, if he's not actually here, where else would you find him? Probably the place where he came from in the first place. If I'm to somehow beat him, I'm going to have to take the fight to him, into The Void.

And what better way to take the fight to him, then to expand the Creep into his domain? Relaying quick mental orders to my Queens, I set them to work right away on building up the usual swarm of drones, only they would use the Nydus Worms to get there. I'd have had them use the hole Herobrine made in the pit when he first appeared, but oddly enough, there was no hole. The Adamantium is still rock solid. Of course, I could have the drones chew through it, but I don't want to give Herobrine time to stop me.

In just a few moments, I had 988,299 Drones ready for the invasion, with 1,000,320 mana available to use towards the war effort. Quickly, I ordered the Nydus Network to sprout two heads, one I put into the pit itself which seemed oddly appropriate. The other I had to work blind, so I ordered the Nydus Worm to open up the other end beneathe the Adamantium. It's a weird order since logic would dictate that opening a head underneathe the ground would be worse than useless, but thanks to Herobrine, I know now that's not the case.

I wish I could just have the whole lot of Drones teleport there, but I have to get a set of eyes in the Void first before I can do that, since none of my creatures can blindly teleport like I'm sure Herobrine can. 400 Mana and 15 minutes later and I found myself diving into the mouth of the Nydus with my Queens in hot pursuit. I tried to order them to stay top side, but they weren't having it. Wherever I go, they go. For the first time I almost felt a twinge of regret in giving them free will, but in no way was I about to try and change that. The fact that they're sticking to me like this is actually makes me feel warm inside, despite my not wanting them to come to harm.

Nearly an instant later after we'd entered the mouth of the Nydus, we found ourselves spit out once more into the inverted world. Actually being here is throwing me off even more than I expected. It seems gravity is trying to pull me towards the center of the large red and black molten ball in the sky, but at the same time it's rooting me to the faux ground of this world as well. The black and white color scheme on top of the colors of everything being inverted is also jarring. Nevertheless though, I fly up to get a good view of the place, only to find myself getting pinballed by a furious Herobrine.

In a way, I'm glad he's so focused on me alone, and while I'm flying about, I order my Queens to start the invasion. In the next few instants, the world exploded in natural colors as my writhing mass carpet of Drones warps into this world before spreading out to build the Hives. I can't help but grin at this. 24 more hours and then the invasion would be truly underway. The fact that my impervious buildings had set up shop seemed to enrage Herobrine even more. I'd had enough being pinballed though, so I turned right around and started doing the same to him. I think the picture of shock on his face as I smashed him just as hard as he'd been smashing me is a moment that's going to stick with me for the rest of my life. Before I could start pinballing him though, he teleported and tried to strike me again, only this time more wary.

Needless to say, I teleported out of the way myself, and thus ensued a violent mockery of the game of tag I'd played with my Queens earlier. We were both pretty much stalemating the other, what with our strength and invulnerability. He struck me more times than I did him though since his teleport isn't as limited as mine is. I wish I could absorb that into the Swarm.

Then again, maybe I could! If I could somehow maneuver him into the Evolution Chamber and make him fall into the Analysis Pool, it might disolve him, bringing him, or more importantly his abilities, into the Swarm while getting rid of him for good! Of course, his invulnerability might make that impossible, but you never know until you try. It's as good a plan as any for now, but how to get him there?

With the way our fighting is going now, what with our practically being everywhere at once, it'd be next to impossible to maneuver him into it. Even if I used PSI Assault to stun him again, it wouldn't last long enough. As I was considering this, the answer came to me. The Infestor! They can use that mind control thing! If I stun Herobrine long enough for an Infestor to stick him with it's mind control ability, then the Infestor could make him enter the pool himself!

Of course, there's still the problem of whether or not the Infestor's probe would even be able to enter into Herobrine's head, let alone control him, but it's the only plan I've got at the moment. I've got two Evolution Chambers set up at the moment, and I'm not about to try waiting a full 24 hours until I can set one up here, so I'll see if I can get him to follow me to one. I'll choose the Nether in the hopes he'll actually follow me there instead of sending me clones like in the Over World. The only reason I know this is actually him is because he's still creating clones to help him fight, and they're all coming from this body. Plus, the clones are still disappating after being damaged enough, but this one isn't really being affected by my hits.

Waiting for my chance, as soon as I got an opening, I took it and punched him as hard as I could into the Nether, combined with a PSI Assault. I'd have to get this done soon. I'm running low on mana surprisingly enough, but having sustained flight this entire time, my mana is starting to get low. The only reason I've lasted this long is that I've been using it in bursts since using my teleport so much has arrested my momentum to the point where gravity hasn't been all that much of an issue. Still though, I've used Flame Propulsion enough to need some more if I'm going to keep going. I'm down to 212 personal mana.

Keeping my time limit in mind, I teleported to where he landed, sending praises for my luck that he'd landed within sight range of my two Hives and Evolution Chamber. Just my luck though, as soon as I'd appeared near to him, he grabbed hold of me and chucked me into the lake of lava. The fight would be seemingly over at this moment as I disappeared before the surface of the blazing hot goop, and I'd stiffened for my seemingly inevitable death… yeah right!

I burst out of the lava, ramming into a shocked from surprise Herobrine, sending him even closer to the Hives, and more importantly, the Evolution Chamber. I'd already built an Infestor at each location near both my Evolution Chambers as soon as I'd hit upon my plan, so the Infestor sat nearby, waiting for the moment to take control of Herobrine as soon as I gave it an opening. Herobrine, in the mean time, is regarding me with wide eyes. I can see and understand his shock completely. Being thrown into a lake of lava is usually an instant death move for just about anyone still mortal. I can see Herobrine had been banking on my 'mistake' of sending him into the Nether in order to finish me off with the Lava. Unfortunately for him, I'm fire proof now, so the most the Nether feels to me is a warm breeze now, and the lava is warm mud. I don't need to breath so he wouldn't be able to drown me in it either. Herobrine doesn't know this though. He must think I'm an immortal like him now, if his slight fear and warriness is anything to go by.

"What's wrong Herobrine? Is this flea a little too much for you?" I taunted. Taunting normally goes against my style, but I'm hoping that little comment would send him into a rage, making this next part easier. It did, and he did. He flew at me, silent as ever, but his face is contorted in a rage that would have scared me shitless if I hadn't been 'in the zone' as it were. As soon as he came near, I used PSI Assault on him one more time, and like a snake, the Infestor struck, sending it's probe into the back of Herobrine's head.

The probe bounced off. My eyes widened in shock of my own. I'd been banking on that move to work! I've got to get him into that pool! Gritting my teeth in determination and using the last split instant of shock he's in, I flew into him, propelling him with remarkable aim, through the open entrance to the Evolution chamber. I teleported after him and grabbed him, dragging his body over my head to slam it into the pool literally lying at my feet.

In almost slow motion, I watched as his body disappeared from my hands in horror as he appeared behind me and hit me hard. Unlike before though when I'd been sent careening through objects or just through the air, the Evolution Chamber's Adamantium inner wall stopped my movement, knocking all the air out of my lungs. While no physical damage had been received by, or made it past my skin, my insides were still affected by the laws of motion, and they'd been battered quite a few times against the insides of my impervious body. My health has been dropped dangerously low thanks to this, and my mana has run down even more. My goals lie before me now, I need to get Herobrine into that pool somehow and/or I need to get to the nearest Hive and get my mana restored. Luckily, PSI assault is an instant cast instant hit attack. I hit him, stunning him again, and I went to toss him into the pool, only to find in horror that my body had locked up. Looking inwards, I discovered my brain isn't transmitting my motor control properly anymore thanks to internal damage. I can't even fix it since I'm below 50 mana now and don't have enough to cast transfusion. I can only keep casting PSI Assault to keep him locked up, and in a last ditch effort, I call out for someone, anyone, to help push Herobrine into the pool and end him.

My Queens answered the call, rushing as fast as they could with teleport to my location. My Queens weren't the only one to answer my call though. I'll forever be stunned as I watched Herobrine tumble into the pool, instantly dissolving for all his toughness in the pool, though that might have been helped along by the one who pushed him. With Herobrine gone, I could only stare in mute shock, as Notch turned around and regarded me with his black eyes. His face was neither kind, nor hard. I suppose that's to be expected, since if the stories are true, Notch had finally put an end to his own brother.

It seemed an eternity that he studied me, and I couldn't help but feel as though I'm being X rayed, examined down to my most minute particles. Then the moment broke, and Notch disappeared, his words echoing much the same way his brother had, only fear didn't travel with these words, only a thrill of wonder.

**Herobrine has been removed. Above the clouds and through two rainbows, you'll find my doorstep. I will be watching.**

A few moments passed in a stunned reverie, even my Queens having not expected such a figure to appear. The feeling soon passed though, giving rise to a fierce determination. Seeing Notch appear like that, taking control of the sitatuation like we were both mere children to be scolded, drove the point home. I need to get stronger. The Swarm needs to get stronger. If we're to survive, we have to. I have no plans for fighting Notch at all, but he isn't the only being well above my ability to stop at the moment. Herobrine himself was too. If it weren't for the fact that his entire modus operandi is going solo, I wouldn't have held out anywhere near as well as I had. I had the Swarm to back me up. Herobrine had only himself and those clones of his. Notch however… Notch is a whole different ball game, and so are any enemies like him out there. I've got to become more powerful, until no one can threaten me or my family again.

-END CHAPTER-

Overmind mana – 36/2500

Zerg Mana – 999,940/1,000,000,000,000

Zerg Supply – 1298/12,958,595 (4,941,495 pending)

Units:

1 Overmind

1079 Overlords

101 Drones

11 Speedlings

6 Queens

100 Hydralisks

Structures:

2,591,719 Hives (988,299 pending)

1 Spawning Pool

2 Evolution Chambers

1 Hydralisk Den

1 Roach Warren

1 Baneling Nest

1 Nydus Network

1 Spire

1 Infestation Pit


	21. Chapter 21

_Herobrine Analysis Completed_

Oh yes, that's right. Thanks to Notch pushing Herobrine down into the analysis pool, Herobrine had been fully absorbed into the swarm. It was at that moment my brain just kind of froze.

Herobrine had been absorbed into the Swarm.

My mind was completely blank for a moment as the ramifications of that statement sunk in. After those few moments, my mind started going a mile a minute. No wonder Notch had given me that look that made me feel as if he was dissecting me with his eyes alone! He'd just handed me the capability of pumping out a massive army of Herobrines, if not become Herobrine myself! He probably wanted to make sure whether or not it'd be better if he didn't just kill me before I could get that far. Since he left though, I guess he figured I'd be ok. The fact that Notch figured I'd be alright with that sheer amount of power in my hands actually humbled me a little. I had to chuckle a little bit at the irony of that thought, considering I'd just been thinking of surpassing Notch and going even further beyond not but a few minutes ago. Unfortunately, I had to bite back my chuckle with a groan, and realized with a start I still couldn't really move.

_Overmind Health-14/300_

Dang… Herobrine really did almost kill me, and even with my Adamantium Armor on top of that. There's no way around it. If Notch hadn't shown up, I'd probably be dead, which is probably why he even showed up in the first place. Beings in the supposed position of god have a bad habit of only interfering at the last moment when there's no other choice.

My Queens had started at my groan of pain, and next thing I knew, all six of them had cast Transfusion on me. The last four were a little redundant, but I appreciated it all the same. Back to full health, I stood up with the help of Rose and Snow on both sides, and I gave a deep sigh.

"We made it." I said, almost in wonder. My Queens seemed to be coming out of their shock slowly to realize the same thing. Soon we were rejoicing and hugging and jumping, celebrating our being alive. Me especially, considering just how close I'd actually come to death. Still, I fought Herobrine! I fought what amounted to a hell diety and survived! And I can only get more powerful from here! Of course, I'm not going to forget that I only survived due to the equivalent of a celestial diety intervening on my behalf. I'm not going to end up stupid and let pride get in the way. Pride is my so named number one enemy, being the root of nearly, if not all, evil. I fight tooth and nail to keep myself humble and treat everyone as equals, no matter what. That's not about to change ever.

Once our partying settled down, I grinned and said, "Let's find out just what we got from Herobrine shall we?" My Queens nodded, still a bit fearful of the name though. I could hardly blame them. The worst part really is that Notch had said Herobrine had been removed. The only problem with that is in Minecraft, Notch has had to say that Herobrine has been removed numerous times, indicating that he keeps coming back. I can only hope this time is permanent, and this time, I'll have Herobrine's abilities on top of my own.

_Welcome to the Zerg Genetic Archive_

_Input Command_

_:Give me the stats on Herobrine_

_Herobrine_

_Health-N/A_

_Abilities:_

_Teleport Lvl 3 – Can teleport any distance, into any solid, liquid, gas, or plasma, so long as you've been to the location before_

_Invisibility Lvl 3 – Can become undetectable to any source, can choose to reveal yourself to individual sources_

_Lightning Lvl 3 – Can cast a lightning bolt into any location regardless of no sky available_

_Flight Lvl 3: Mind Over Matter – Capable of propelling yourself using only your mind, limited only by the mind_

_Creation Lvl 1: Able to build anything with your mind you already know how to build manually; size limited to ten times your own size_

_Incorporeal (Passive) – Take on a non physical state automatically in reaction to any danger_

_Immortal Lvl 1(Passive) - Health is infinite; continued existence depends on outside source _

_Adaptive Strength (Passive) – Base strength is set automatically to allow the ability to lift and throw any weight_

_True Sight (Passive) – Able to see through any limitation to vision (ie. Lack of light, solid matter)_

_Dark Slave (Passive) – Enslaved to the powers of Darkness (Ability: Enslave to the Dark unlocked)_

I had to sit down in shock. These abilities… the first three I already knew about basically, though the ability to teleport into solid matter is a little much. I suppose that's where the ability to become incorporeal comes in handy, since you'd be trapped if you were a being of solid matter teleporting into a wall or the ground. I guess that true sight comes in handy for that since it that would allow sight despite being inside solid rock or something similar. The capabilities of that are enormous, but understandable given the circumstances. Even adaptive strength is understandable, though the idea of having that with PSI gauntlet on top is boggling my mind as well.

No, the things truly throwing me for a loop are the creation lvl 1, what the incorporeal and immortal abilities tied together actually means for that fight I just had against Herobrine, and what that Dark Slave thing could mean.

For one, that creation ability, even limited like that, is ripe for abuse. So long as I know how to make something, I can build it with my mind? And it's only lvl 1! Lvl 3 probably strips all limitations from that ability, and quite frankly, there wouldn't be anything that could stop me at that point. If that would allow me to create anything I can imagine, then there's really nothing I can think of that could stop me.

As for the incorporeal and immortal abilities… throughout that fight, not once did Herobrine go incorporeal. That means that not once did I actually threaten his existence, whereas he nearly killed me. Herobrine was right. At this point in time, I really was just a flea compared to him. The thought is very sobering in the extreme. Though, that extra bit about requiring an outside source to stay alive is unusual.

That Dark Slave thing though… what exactly does that mean? I tried asking the ZGA, but it had no more information on the ability than that. What exactly is the Darkness? Does that mean that Herobrine wasn't acting like himself? If I only I could ask Notch…

Then again, maybe I can ask Notch! He said I'll find his doorstep above the clouds and through the double rainbow. If I had to guess, this would be the Aether that Notch, the creator of Minecraft, was going to add to the game, but added The End instead. If that's how you get into the Aether, then no wonder Notch removed it from the game! Getting to such an area would practically require the ability to fly!

With the help of my Queens, I stood up. Like myself, they're also a bit shell shocked since they could see what the ZGA had to say through me. They couldn't do that before, which just lends credence to the idea that they're cerebrates in training at the moment. No other creature would've been able to see the ZGA according to them.

I contemplated going to visit Notch right now, but then decided against it. Not that I don't think Notch will destroy me, but there's always that possibility, and I don't want to take the chance of being subject to the whims of a diety. The only personage I answer to is my Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ, as well as the holy ghost. Anything else is a big fat no. So before I can go see Notch, I need to be able to meet him on equal footing. Thankfully, I can do just that by incorporating Herobrine's abilities into the Swarm.

Gathering my Queens, we teleported back to the Hive, though I made a quick stop in the Void to make sure everything is still going alright, and that throwing Herobrine into the Nether like that hadn't had any lasting repercussions. Thankfully it didn't, barring a small crack in the outer shell of the Nether that I didn't have the strength to close up, but hopefully after getting adaptive strength, I'd be able to.

Going back to my Queens, I contemplated what to do next. Obviously, the best move would be to apply the abilities from Herobrine from an evolution, but before I could, I needed to make sure of something.

_Welcome to the Zerg Genetic Archive._

_Input Command_

_:List the types of evolutions available._

_The evolutions available to the Zerg Swarm are Physical, Psionic, Magic, Celestial, and Demonic_

I raised an eyebrow at that. I had figured something along the lines of Celestial would've shown up but demonic?

_:List the abilities available in the celestial and demonic list, names only._

_Celestial_

_Creation Lvl 1_

_Incorporeal_

_Immortal Lvl 1_

_Adaptive Strength_

_True Sight_

_Demonic_

_Enslave to the Dark_

Oh yes, I'd forgotten about that last one. Honestly, it might as well be struck from the list, since I have no plans of ever using it. Reanimation was bad enough, but at least I could use that to counter armies of undead myself, stalemating enemies. Enslaving to the Dark would serve no possible purpose to me, other than for research purposes I suppose. Know your enemy and all that jazz.

I'm a bit surprised Adaptive strength and True Sight made it into the Celestial List. While the abilities are a bit overkill in the power scale, I'd still have figured those would have been considered physical abilities. The rest don't surprise me though. Invisibility, Teleport, and casting lightning would've most likely found its way into the magic type. I am curious about what Flight: Mind Over Matter would have gone into though, if not Celestial. I'd bet it's gone to Psionic.

_:What evolution type is Flight: Mind Over Matter_

_Flight: Mind over Matter is a Psionic Type Evolution, with a subtype of celestial._

_:Subtype of Celestial? What does that mean?_

_When specifically requesting the types of abilities, the ZGA will list the dominant type of the ability, and the subtype listed will be what came in second for what the ability could be classified as._

I grinned thinking back to a previous situation.

_:What is the subtype of the Enderman Teleport?_

Teleport Lvl 1 is a Physical Type Evolution, with a subtype of magical.

Ha! I knew it. And to think I'd gotten into an argument with the ZGA over whether or not the Enderman's Teleport was a physical evolution only a few days ago. I felt strangely vindicated by this, if not a little petty for holding such feelings over what amounts to the Zerg equivalent of MS-DOS.

Unfortunately, like I'd suspected, the Swarm won't be able to evolve just yet, since the evolutions I want to apply range over two different evolution types. I could do one at a time though, and I'm tempted to do so actually. 48 hours going through evolution doesn't seem like all that bad of a thing really since there's not much else to do now. Thanks to the fire immunity and true sight, the Swarm can now expand into the lava pools just as the Swarm is already expanding into the Oceans, so there's no need to worry about expanding in that fashion anymore. Herobrine is finished, so there's no need to worry about that. The damage left over from Herobrine is something that needs to be taken care of, but two meter holes in the ground isn't that big of a deal. The biggest blow actually dealt to the Swarm by Herobrine would have to be the stripping of the trees. Now there aren't any apples, and just unsightly leaveless… logs?

I watched in some surprise as the trees seemingly burst back into full bloom of leaves before my very eyes. Somehow I'd completely forgotten that the Creep is still nourishing the plant life, and since the trees hadn't actually died, I guess it was only a matter of time before the leaves regrew. I had to chuckle at myself over my worries being for nothing. Other than that, the only thing left to do is visit Notch. That'll be the first thing I do after the Celestial evolution is finished first. I'd wait till the magic evolution is over too, but I keep getting this strange feeling that it'll be too late by then.

Shrugging, I voiced to my Queens that we're going to evolve, but there's one small thing to be taken care of first. Pulling my Queens together, I stated, "This first evolution is going to focus on the Celestial abilities. One of which is the immortality. I want to hear your opinions on whether or not we should apply it to ourselves.

My Queens looked at each other, holding a silent mental conversation which I chose not to intrude on. They usually did that, nearly all the time actually, especially when I ask them questions before Asura answers them. She's always the one to answer for some reason, unless I specifically ask one of the others, or if one of them has a thought to be shared during the answer itself. I guess Asura being the spokesperson for her fellow Queens makes sense. She does seem to be the High Queen over the others, though I'm not sure if it's solely because she was the first, or if it's something else.

After a time, Asura turned to me and said, "While we all agree that immortality would be a good ability to have, that last limitation on it is too much of a weakness to allow it to apply to ourselves. If someone succeeded in killing even one of us, it'd be possible that it might result in the deaths of all the others as well."

I nodded, agreeing, "That's what I thought as well. I was just wondering if you six might be able to think of a way to work around a limitation like that or not?"

My Queens conferred again for a moment, which didn't last long before Asura turned back to me and said, "We can't think of anything at this time Matthew."

I nodded and said, "Alright. Time to evolve then."

_:Evolve the Swarm. Apply Incorporeal and True Sight to the entire Swarm. Apply Adaptive Strength to all Zerg Units. Apply Creation Lvl 1 to myself and my Queens._

_Command Accepted._

Closing my eyes, I once more let the sac envelop me, choosing to fall asleep before I was forced unconscious by the evolution.

-END CHAPTER-

Overmind mana – 36/2500

Zerg Mana – 999,940/1,000,000,000,000

Zerg Supply – 1298/12,958,595 (4,941,495 pending)

Units:

1 Overmind

1079 Overlords

101 Drones

11 Speedlings

6 Queens

100 Hydralisks

Structures:

2,591,719 Hives (988,299 pending)

1 Spawning Pool

2 Evolution Chambers

1 Hydralisk Den

1 Roach Warren

1 Baneling Nest

1 Nydus Network

1 Spire

1 Infestation Pit


	22. Chapter 22

_Evolution Complete_

_Overmind Lvl 3_

_Health – 300/300_

_Mana – 2500/2500_

_Abilities:_

_Physical:_

_Spawn Hive (200 Mana) – Grows a Zerg Lair at your current location (12 hours)_

_Burrow (0 Mana) – Go underground; unable to move; can only be detected by sensors_

_Burrow Move (0 Mana) – Ability to move underground when burrowed_

_Transfusion (50 Mana) – Instantly transfer 125 health to biological unit or structure_

_Shapeshift (0 Mana) – Take on the appearance of any target similar in size_

_Adamantium Armor (Passive) – All physical type damage is blocked 100%_

_Photosynthesis (Passive) – Ability to obtain partial sustance from light sources_

_Psionic:_

_PSI Assault (1 Mana) – Casts a focused PSI attack at one enemy _

_PSI Storm (50+ Mana) – Casts a localized storm of PSI energy_

_PSI Guantlet Lvl 2 (Passive) – Mana Above 0; Strength increased by factor of 20_

_PSI Armor Lvl 2 (Passive) – Mana Above 0; All attacks do 50% less damage_

_PSI Sensor (Passive) – Mana Above 0; Able to detect cloaked, burrowed, and hallucinated units_

_Magic:_

_Exploding Fireball (5 Mana) – Explodes on contact, not affected by gravity, spreads flame, deflected by opposing opposite force_

_Fire Charge (2 Mana) – Shoots rapid balls of fire in three round bursts after each charge_

_Self Combustion (1 Mana per second) – Wrap yourself in flames spontaneously_

_Animation (10 Mana) - Give inananimate objects a limited form of life; enslaved_

_Reanimation (15 Mana) – Give limited life to the biological deceased; enslaved_

_Teleport Lvl 1 (0 Mana) – Able to teleport within range of vision; full horizontal/slight vertical_

_Flight: Flame Propulsion (1 Mana per second) – Fly using the thrust of conjured flame_

_Fire Immunity (Passive) – Mana above 0; 100% immune to heat, fire, lava, etc._

_Celestial:_

_Creation Lvl 1 (500 Mana) - Able to build anything with your mind you already know how to build manually; size limited to ten times your own size_

_Adaptive Strength (Passive) – Base strength is set automatically to allow the ability to lift and throw any weight_

_Incorporeal (Passive) – Take on a non physical state automatically in reaction to any danger_

_True Sight (Passive) – Able to see through any limitation to vision (ie. Lack of light, solid matter)_

_Zerg Mana – 1,058,537,500/1,000,000,000,000_

_Zerg Supply – 1298/17,900,090_

My eyes flew wide open as the information on the mana amount filtered into my head. Wow… we passed a billion. Holy cow we broke a billion mana! I still can't get over just how much mana is available to me. The rate at which it's growing is just plain astounding, and it's only going to get even bigger, what with having access to not only the Nether, but now the outer shell of the Nether as well as the Void itself. I am curious if the Aether will become part of that as well, but I honestly don't know. Heck, I don't even know if the Aether is an actual physical place or where exactly it could be. At least everything else has so far been an actual physically locatable place. For all I know I may find areas that are just plain impossible to map later on.

Speaking of the Aether, I feel it's time to go find Notch. This feeling isn't something I can readily identify, and I'm starting to suspect it's coming from Notch himself. Doing a routine sweep of the Swarm lends further credence to this as I spy a double rainbow among the clouds above the Creep. It seems it's time. I'd feel much better if I were immortal though, even if it's obvious why that wouldn't be a good thing. Technically, I already have a form of immortality though. No Zerg can die of old age. I'm unsure about sickness, but my Queens assure me that Zerg don't get sick anyways. I can only hope they're right in that regard. It would suck if a well placed biological weapon were to just wipe out the Zerg in one strike.

Shaking my head of such thoughts, I look over to my Queens, stretching in a manner that has me gulping and focusing on their eyes and nothing else. Clearing my throat, I say, "I think it's time to visit Notch. Will you be coming with?" My Queens nodded. Snow even snorted and said, "Like you're ever going anywhere without us." I chuckled at that, glad at the truth of that statement. If there's one thing you'll never be able to call my ladies, it's nonprotective and disloyal. I might call them mothering, but in my opinion they aren't overbearing enough to merit being called that.

Walking out of the Lair and turning my eyes skyward, I eyed the double rainbow in the sky. Falling backwards, with my Queens following suit, as soon as our bodies faced directly towards the two rainbows, we teleported towards the sight, then flew in between the rainbows. After flying through them, we hit a cloud bank, that once clear, revealed that the Overworld had disappeared. In it's place is a collection of interconnected islands floating in the sky with many layers, hills, caves, and even mountains. I can't even begin to calculate how big it must be, despite being above it, yet it still stretches out before us, far into the horizon.

The feeling I'm getting to meet up with Notch seems to be directing me towards a large mountain with a small plateau on top. Heading towards the plateau, a bunch of stone arches arranged much like stone henge comes into view. Landing down among the arches, I notice that each arch shows a different view of each of the worlds, all of them focused mainly on the Creep, though one is showing a view of this place, in particular it's showing a close view of myself and my Queens. Standing in front of this particular arch is Notch himself. He turns away from the arch to regard us.

**Welcome Matthew, Overmind of the Zerg, to my home. I'm pleased you received my summons.**

I nodded and replied, "Thank you for the invitation. Was there something you needed to see me about? The feeling I got was that it would have been too late to wait any longer."

Notch smiled sardonically.

**True. I trust you caught the implication of Herobrine's immortality?**

I nodded, "I suspected, but I wasn't certain till now. Why did you kill him, if it would only result in your death?"

My Queens gasped behind me at my question, though I didn't get any feelings of surprise. It seems they had suspected themselves.

Notch sighed. **Long ago, my brother and I awoke in the formless void of space. We did not exist prior to then, but together we knew that we had a mission, a goal to accomplish. Together, we used the powers we had to create this world. We formed the Aether first as a home for ourselves, and the rest of the world followed. My brother both had our own views of what the world should be like though, so we ended up creating two worlds in one, the Overworld, and the Underworld; both equal in appearance and beauty. Like all stories worth telling, something changed. My brother had been tending to his world, but when he came back, he was changed. I tried to find out what happened to him, but he slowly grew poisoned towards me. At the time, I had thought he was jealous of my world, for something silly, but I should have known better. I tried to reason with him, but nothing worked. In the End, he finally attacked me, chasing me even that far as I tried to escape his poisonous actions. He'd turned the Nether into a veritable hell, and his own world had become an abomination, sickening to behold.**

**With his attack, I knew that I would have to take drastic measures. I stripped my brother of his powers and memories, casting him to the Overworld, hoping he would learn and become the brother I once knew. The Darkness in him, I left in the End, setting him goals of a sort to reach the place where he attacked me, in the hopes that he would be able to defeat the darkness and become himself again. In The End, he faced his Darkness, but it consumed him, and he regained his memories and powers, greater and more terrible than ever before. It was all I could do to banish him to the world that he'd created.**

**Yes, I can see the realization on your face. While Herobrine is his name, that was the name he fashioned himself after the darkness consumed him once again. Before then, my brother's name was Steve. I knew once he'd changed his name, I had forever lost my brother. But then hope came. Not long ago, a strange star streaked across the sky, but before it passed, a piece broke off from the whole and landed on my Overworld, creating a small hollowed out cave. In it, I found you, Matthew. I didn't know what purpose you had, but already I could tell there was something about you. A presence, that would change everything, and you have.**

**I have watched as you grew from the single boy you were to the mighty presence you are today, and I can't help but be astonished by the power you already wield and the seemingly limitless potential you have. I listened as you explained this world from your own perspective. I can honestly say I was astonished at how thorough your knowledge was, however skewed the source may be. I watched you face my brother, unsure of what might come of the battle, but as you held him off, I knew that the moment had come in which I had to make a choice. For better or for worse, I made my decision. **

**I'm dying Matthew. I don't have long left in this world. You pondered once why I stared at you so long after my brother died. I was not pondering the choice I'd made; I had already made the choice. Instead I was trying to understand. My brother and I could have gone on, stalemated as we were. But I saw in you something I'd thought lost a long time ago; hope. Hope for the future. If there's anyone I can trust this world to after we're gone, it would be you, and I know I've made a good choice. Make this world better than it was before Matthew, for both myself and my brother. I leave our legacy in your hands.**

I stared at the spot that Notch once stood. While he'd been speaking, his body became translucent, and with his last words he disappeared altogether. With his end, the stone arches crumbled into dust in the wind, leaving the plateau bare. I don't know how long I stood there, running his words through my mind. None of my Queens had a dry eye available, and I soon found myself engulfed in a group hug. I can honestly say I didn't know what to think. The information Notch gave me before he passed on was almost too fantastic to believe. The fact that Herobrine and Steve are the same person had thrown me for a loop, but that information of how he'd found me really left me… stunned? Confused? I wasn't sure how to feel exactly. What did that bit mean? I had crash landed into this world from a shooting star? How does that even work? I had wondered if Notch had been the one to bring me here, but according to him, my being here was something else's doing entirely. Then there's the bit about Herobrine being enslaved by Darkness. That would mean something else is out there, something dangerous enough to enslave someone of Notch's level of power.

Even more than before, the resolve in me burned, to become even more powerful and protect my family from danger. More than that though, I need to find the portal to the End. I need to make sure that the darkness there or whatever I might find is gone. Before I do that though, I need to become more powerful. I have another evolution I need to go through before I can get to the End.

With new found determination, I turned to my Queens and said, "We need to become more powerful. We need to evolve once more. Before that though, I want you to spread the Creep."

My Queens nodded, and set about their task. They created 1,602,329 Drones and set them to create more Hives. It's too bad it's roughly mid afternoon, so tonight's Mana deposit isn't going to be affected by the influx of Hives. Not comfortable with being in an unknown place out in the open, despite how nice the Aether is, we made our way back to our home Hive. I just hope that we can still make our way back to the place, but hopefully with the new Teleport available, that shouldn't be a problem. I once again told my Queens to prepare to evolve. Once they told me they're ready, I activated the ZGA.

_Welcome to the Zerg Genetic Archive_

_Input Command_

_:Evolve the Swarm. Apply Teleport Lvl 3, Invisibility Lvl 3, and Flight: Mind Over Matter to the entire Swarm. Apply Lightning Lvl 3 to all Zerg Units and Hives._

_Processing Command… Warning! Applying Teleport Lvl 3 to the Swarm will remove the ability: Teleport Lvl 1. _

_Continue?_

_Yes_

_Command Accepted_

_Zerg Mana – 360_

Wait, why did it cost a million for that!? Then I remembered that Flight: Mind Over Matter was a psionic technique so I'd actually requested two types of evolutions. Oops. Good thing I had enough. That was my last thought before the evolution forced me into unconsciousness again.

-END CHAPTER-

Overmind mana – 2500/2500

Zerg Mana – 360/1,000,000,000,000

Zerg Supply – 1,298/17,900,090 (8,011,645 pending)

Units:

1 Overmind

1079 Overlords

101 Drones

11 Speedlings

6 Queens

100 Hydralisks

Structures:

3,580,018 Hives (1,602,329 pending)

1 Spawning Pool

2 Evolution Chambers

1 Hydralisk Den

1 Roach Warren

1 Baneling Nest

1 Nydus Network

1 Spire

1 Infestation Pit


	23. Chapter 23

_Evolution Complete_

_Overmind Lvl 3_

_Health – 300/300_

_Mana – 2500/2500_

_Abilities:_

_Physical:_

_Spawn Hive (200 Mana) – Grows a Zerg Lair at your current location (12 hours)_

_Burrow (0 Mana) – Go underground; unable to move; can only be detected by sensors_

_Burrow Move (0 Mana) – Ability to move underground when burrowed_

_Transfusion (50 Mana) – Instantly transfer 125 health to biological unit or structure_

_Shapeshift (0 Mana) – Take on the appearance of any target similar in size_

_Adamantium Armor (Passive) – All physical type damage is blocked 100%_

_Photosynthesis (Passive) – Ability to obtain partial sustance from light sources_

_Psionic:_

_PSI Assault (1 Mana) – Casts a focused PSI attack at one enemy _

_PSI Storm (50+ Mana) – Casts a localized storm of PSI energy_

_Flight: Mind Over Matter (0 Mana) – Can propel yourself using only your mind, limited only by the mind_

_PSI Guantlet Lvl 2 (Passive) – Mana Above 0; Strength increased by factor of 20_

_PSI Armor Lvl 2 (Passive) – Mana Above 0; All attacks do 50% less damage_

_PSI Sensor (Passive) – Mana Above 0; Able to detect cloaked, burrowed, and hallucinated units_

_Magic:_

_Exploding Fireball (5 Mana) – Explodes on contact, not affected by gravity, spreads flame, deflected by opposing opposite force_

_Fire Charge (2 Mana) – Shoots rapid balls of fire in three round bursts after each charge_

_Self Combustion (1 Mana per second) – Wrap yourself in flames spontaneously_

_Lightning Lvl 3 (0 Mana) – Can cast a lightning bolt into any location, even without sky_

_Animation (10 Mana) - Give inananimate objects a limited form of life; enslaved_

_Reanimation (15 Mana) – Give limited life to the biological deceased; enslaved_

_Teleport Lvl 3 (0 Mana) – Can teleport any distance, into any solid, liquid, gas, or plasma, so long as you've been to the location before_

_Invisibility Lvl 3 (0 Mana) – Can become undetectable to any source, can choose to reveal yourself to individual sources_

_Flight: Flame Propulsion (1 Mana per second) – Fly using the thrust of conjured flame_

_Fire Immunity (Passive) – Mana above 0; 100% immune to heat, fire, lava, etc._

_Celestial:_

_Creation Lvl 1 (500 Mana) - Able to build anything with your mind you already know how to build manually; size limited to ten times your own size_

_Adaptive Strength (Passive) – Base strength is set automatically to allow the ability to lift and throw any weight_

_Incorporeal (Passive) – Take on a non physical state automatically in reaction to any danger_

_True Sight (Passive) – Able to see through any limitation to vision (ie. Lack of light, solid matter)_

_Zerg Mana – 1,058,537,860/1,000,000,000,000_

Evolution complete indeed. I'm starting to rack up quite a nice list of abilities aren't I? I'm still not sure what I was thinking when I decided to give every unit in the Swarm Lightning Lvl 3. Sending a swarm of Speedlings at an enemy would just result in them getting fried by lightning before the Speedlings even get close, and that's not even taking into account the fact that all my Zerg can fly now. The mental image of Zerglings flying through the sky shooting lightning bolts is so ridiculous as to be funny.

Speaking of that flying ability, that last line in the ability Mind Over Matter is very interesting. If Mind Over Matter flight is limited only by the mind, for all intents and purposes, so long as I believe I can do it, then I can in that case! Heck, if I believed myself capable of flying over the speed of light then I probably could! There's a small problem with that though. My body may be incapable of physical damage, but my insides aren't. If I suddenly accelerated to FTL speed, then my brains and organs would probably become mush within my own exoskeleton. So, in lieu of that, I probably won't be going retardedly fast until I've got some form of immortality set up. Still, I can now go pretty fast without spending any mana, along with the rest of my Zerg. I'm still not sure how it was possible to apply the ability to my buildings though. I honestly didn't expect it to work but it did. Asking the ZGA doesn't help either, since it doesn't know. Or more specifically, it just says Unknown.

As for my Teleport, as a quick test, I focus on the mental image of that summit at the top of the Aether, and activate the teleport. Next thing I know, I'm at the summit, and my Queens are freaking out a little bit since I disappeared from the vision of the Swarm entirely. Suddenly they appear by my side. Huh. Evidently they can teleport to where I am by simply focusing on myself and activating their teleports. They also look kinda mad.

"What did I tell you about testing out things without letting us know!? What if you're hurt?" I smiled and said, "Well it's a good thing we now know that you can teleport directly to me even if you don't know where I am in the unlikely case that ever happens!" Asura threw up her arms in a huff and teleported back to the Hive, along with the other Queens, some of which gave me the stinkeye, though the look of heartbroken misery on Joy and Cuddles' faces were far worse. I'm not an idiot though. I remember what I did the last time this happened, so before they could get anywhere, I teleported to them all and gathered them in a big group hug, thanking them for caring and promising that I'd try my best to tell them when I'm about to do any tests in the future. This seemed to mollify them a bit, though I had to hug Asura and Rose for extra long before they calmed back down.

Crisis averted, I settled down with my Queens, enjoying a meal with them, then taking them out to test our new Lightning ability. I must say though, having a spammable, zero cost lightning attack is a little ridiculous. So long as you can think of activating the ability fast enough, you can literally fill as far as you can see with lightning bolts almost instantaneously. I have to wonder if, in the end, this attack can do more damage than my PSI storm ever could. Considering if you keep up the casting of the lightning bolts near instantaneously, you can keep up a literal field of lightning almost indefinitely, so long as you don't get distracted from casting.

The only thing that could make it even more overpowered would be if we did travel over the speed of light. If we also found an ability to increase our perception to that speed, then theoretically we could keep up a field of lightning even larger than just our current range of vision. Speaking of which, I tried using my mental map to target the casting of the lightning, and it worked. Even the field of lightning attack could cover the entirety of the vision range of the Swarm that way. The sheer possibilities available with this attack are beyond ridiculous.

I also tested out the ability to teleport into solid matter, making sure to warn my Queens of my actions first. Doing so, I found that in conjunction with incorporeal and true sight, being inside anything that would normally block my vision makes the world look like what you see in a video game if you turn clipping off and move outside of the rendered space. That's not all though, but the closest I could possibly describe it as would be playing Minecraft, turning clipping off, flying through the wall, then turning X ray mod on so you can see what's in the walls too. I have to think of it as flying though. Being incorporeal means that I'm basically free floating inside solid matter, so if I don't move as if I'm flying with Mind Over Matter, I just fall towards where gravity takes me, until I pop back out of the walls. The whole experience was kind of surreal.

Doing further tests with True Sight by diving into lava and water proved that my sight is no longer hindered by either. Unlike the lava though, while I was in the water, the image of seeing through the water, and seeing as if there's no water in the way superimposed themselves, kind of like if you unfocused your eyes and you get double images, if you focus, the images rejoin back together. It's the same concept here, only seeing both is the normal state. It's kind of disorienting, so I forced myself to practice so I could get used to it, which my Queens did the same, since they had pretty much given me the ultimatum that any test I do, would be one they would do, so if any test would be one I wouldn't want them to be doing, then they sure as heck wouldn't want me doing it either! I'm just glad I've not yet thought of a test I wouldn't want them to do or else I'd be a bit annoyed at the limitation.

While in the midst of all these tests, my Queens went about the usual actions of the day as well, creating 1,602,330 Drones to turn into Hives, and then spreading the lot evenly in expanding the Creep in the Overworld, the Void, the Nether, and even sending a drone up to that mountain summit in the Aether. Once that one's done, it's entirely possible my Queens and I will move our home Hive to that one.

Also of note is that my Queens and I are about to hit a rather big mark in our history. At the current rate we're going, it'll probably only be two more days and two more times creating drones to spread the creep until the entire Overworld is covered. I'm not sure what we'll do to commemorate the occasion. Maybe have another glass of apple juice? I still can't believe it's not even been that long to cover the entirety of this planet. It's almost hard to believe. What's even harder to believe though is that if The Void and the Overworld are equal in size, which from first glance it very well might be, then the amount of area able to be covered with Creep has just about doubled, then add the fact that I can now cover the outer shell of the Nether with Creep too?

Speaking of the Nether, I'm reminded of that crack that I wanted to try and close up in the shell of the Nether. Bringing my Queens with me, we each grab the crack and quite easily close it back up. I probably could've done it on my own, but having more hands made the whole process far easier. I've only got two arms after all. With that finished, I told my Queens of my plans to spread the Creep in the new spaces available. I noticed Joy wasn't really listening though. She'd turned to look up and she hadn't turned away from whatever it is yet. Curious, I turned my gaze up to see what she's looking at and just about froze in wonder myself.

I remember seeing pictures of what the Earth looked like from orbit. This… this is kind of like that. The entirety of the void is laid before us. No matter where you look. It's like standing on the Halo ring world and looking up, only the sight is all around you. Most of the landscape still has that creepy inverted black and white look, but the sight of the start of the Hive is like looking at a city lit up at night, so long as you can ignore that the night sky is white instead of black. It doesn't look normal except for the area that's lit up. I can't wait to finish filling this place up. As amazing as it looks now, this inverted empty Overworld lookalike will look incredible once finished. The only thing marring it a little is that the Nydus Network still has a few bodies stretching from the ground to the Nether. I'd removed most of them to travel solely through the crust, but if I want any Nydus Worm openings in the Nether at all, then I have to have a few of the bodies stretching out to the center.

Unless… why didn't I think about that before? Putting out the orders quickly, I had the Nydus worms retract back into the ground of the Void, filling up the holes as it went just as it had with all the other holes in the Void. Then I commanded the hundred drones I'd all but forgotten about to create more Hives in the lava and elsewhere, but one of them I ordered to build a Nydus Network. Now I can have Nydus Worms in the Nether without those bodies stretching through the sky in the Void.

Doing this broke my million mana base line, but that'll be ok since I don't really have any more plans for evolving at the moment. The only place left to assimilate new strains on this world is the End, and I haven't even gotten there yet.

Faye turned to me and asked me, "Why did you build a Nydus Network in the Nether? We don't need their transportation abilities anymore."

I nodded in agreement to this and explained, "I want the Nydus Worms for excavation work. If I can make multiple levels in the ground, then I can have multiple layers of creep, multiplying my mana input by practically ten fold if not more!"

Faye seemed to gape for a moment at this, then shut her mouth and nodded smiling, "As to be expected from you Matthew. You'll never cease to amaze." I think I blushed at that because my face felt a bit warm at her compliment.

With the events of the day basically over and night coming, my Queens and I spent the night hours playing tag with our new teleport abilities. I also tested my invisibility, and while it did prevent my Queens from seeing where I am, they knew through our connection where I was anyway.

After a while of this I settled down to test the final ability, Creation Lvl 1. My Queens settled down with me, forming a circle inside the Hive.

"What are you going to create?" Asked Asura.

I shrugged and answered, "I haven't decided yet."

Of course, the main reason I hadn't decided yet is because thoughts kept flying through my head of what I want to create, but all of the ideas were things I don't actually know how to make. That limitation is really getting to me, since I don't actually know how to make very much. All I know is what I do make, I want it to be something from my old home, Earth.

That thought actually startled my thought processes to a halt. I just referred to Earth as my old home. Thinking about it, I realized that at this point, I consider this my home now, with my Queens. I suppose it makes sense. Home is where the heart is, and while I do miss my family on Earth, my Queens here are far more important to me. Still, Earth is my old home, so it'll always have a place in my heart and I do hope to see it again someday.

Now, what do I actually know how to make? Is this ability limited to what I've seen made, or is it something that I actually have to be able to construct with my hands? If it's the latter, than the most I'll be making things from is paper machete. If it's the former though, I've got a rough idea of how a lot of things work.

Then I hit upon an awesome idea. What if I can make something in my mind that I should be able to make with my hands? In that case, I have just the idea to try. First and foremost, I'm tired of laying on the floor with my Queens. I want a bed. Focusing on my mind's eye, I form a solid wood bedframe that interlocks together to become solid. The bed is extremely large and just slightly concave. Next comes the mattress. This is the part where I flounder a bit, until I imagine sewing together a mattress case, then shove it full to the brim with feather down, then I place it between two presses and flatten it, then stuff it full of down again. I complete the process five times until the bed is a bit firm, but very soft. Unfortunately, that's when I realize that wouldn't work for this ability since I don't know how to make the material needed to create a mattress case. Hopefully that won't matter though, since if I have to know how to make every single piece that goes into anything I could make, then I doubt I'll be able to use the Creation ability at all.

Pushing ahead, I put the mattress on top of the bedframe, then I imagine deep red satin bedsheets fitted to the bed with down filled pillows and deep red maroon blankets. I imagine how soft such a thing must be and how the firmness must feel in case that has anything to do with the process of creating such a thing, then I cast Creation.

Nothing happened.

I sighed, slumping. It looks like I can only make things that I know how to make for real. Going for something simple, I imagine carving a hunk of wood into a round ball, then sanding the wood and then polishing it with… crud, I can't polish it with resin. I don't know how to make resin! I don't know how to make varnish either. Leaving the ball in its smooth sanded state in my mind, I cast Creation. Energy flowed out of me, dropping my mana to 2000/2500, and in my hands is the coconut sized wooden ball.

I held it up, regarding it slightly disappointed. "Well… that's something I guess." I contemplate whether I should've painted the thing until I remembered I don't know how to make paints either. I realize with disappointment that all of the things I know how to make are mainly just things that need assembly. I don't have a clue how to really make anything from scratch. I don't even know how to make glass! The best I could do would be to have an Overlord melt the sand and hope for the best. Maybe experiment a lot until… until…

My eyes widened. Tools! That's the answer! Normally I wouldn't be able make a round ball of wood unless I had the tools to do it! Well, so long as I can imagine the tool, even if said tool doesn't actually exist, then wouldn't that let me create something more unique? What if I imagined entering the information for my bed into an advanced 3D printer? In that case, I imagine typing into the machine the specs for my bed, including size, shape, texture, relative softness and the materials it's made from, using samples from my own mind, even if I don't know how to actually make the stuff directly. That finished, I hit the mental 'print' button, creating out of thin air my ideal bed! I technically made it with my hands that way! Let's hope this mental trick works. Concentrating on my fabricated bed, I activate Creation.

...Nothing happened.

Where did it go wrong though? Was it the imaginary tool? Does it only work if I imagine tools I've actually used before? In that case I'm even more limited than I thought! In pure frustration, I imagined one of my Overlords setting itself on fire to melt down a slab of Adamantium then pressing it into a slab like form as big as it could make it, and considering the size of an Overlord, that's not very much, probably something like 8x8x1 or something. Thankfully, that's below ten times my size. Still though, imagining setting an Overlord on fire to pull it off is satisfying, and just for the heck of it, I cast Creation.

Blinking, there's suddenly a huge slab of Adamantium standing on end in front of me. Two of my Queens have gone corporeal as soon as it appeared since it pretty much appeared inside of them. Standing up, and rushing back a bit, I eye the slab in surprise, while the Queens express surprise of their own. "Did you mean to create this?" Asura asked. I shook my head answering, "Not exactly. I was trying to make things in my mind and bring them out with Creation, but none of my ideas were working, so I… kinda got mad and mentally created this, knowing the process would probably set an Overlord on fire. I didn't think it would actually work though, since this isn't exactly something I created with my own two hands. Heck, it's not even anything I've made before."

I stepped up to it, and grabbed with both hands, testing if I could pick it up. Unsurprisingly I could, so I took it outside and put it in the Hive with all of my other mined stuff. I shake my head, lamenting the waste of 500 mana on such a thing. It's not like I could even use it for flooring for the multiple levels I want to try, since it's far too small, and the plates of Adamantium would have to be far bigger than this if I don't find a way to somehow make it solid. It is good to know that my Overlords are capable of melting Adamantium though, and even if it does catch the Overlords on fire it hardly matters since the Zerg are fire proof. Maybe… if I got a number of these plates and put them in a mold, then had the Overlords pour the melted Adamantium into the cracks, I could form larger plates of the stuff that way. And, if I did that inside of the hives, which can also control their internal temperatures, then the Adamantium could be properly cooled too! But then again, it still might not be structurally sound to do such a thing though. Solid slabs of Adamantium artificially cooled in a press are one thing, but to have it cooled while it's in a glue like state might not be good. If only I had something like the Zerg equivalent of a factory or something! Like a giant version of the insides of an Overlord would be nice.

Then I wondered, why can't I? I'm the Overmind aren't I? Can't I create new strains and buildings through the ZGA? Not everything the Zerg have must be something adapted from something else that already existed right?

_Welcome to the Zerg Genetic Archive_

_Input Command_

_:Do I have the requirements necessary to create a new Zerg building?_

_Negative. Cerebrate or Cerebrate geneticist required._

_:This is ridiculous! Anything a Cerebrate can do is just an extension of what I can do! Why would I require a Cerebrate to create a new Zerg building if they can only do what I can do?_

_Logic error. Zerg Cerebrates are creatures of the Swarm designed to perform specific tasks by the Overmind. The Overmind itself does not need to know how to do everything the Zerg can do, otherwise none of the Zerg would have any abilities the Overmind did not already start with._

Touché ZGA. That's a very good point. The original Overmind did start out much the same way I did, absorbing all it could on Zerus, discarding and keeping mutations and abilities as it went. If it absorbed a creature that could fly, it didn't necessarily need to know how to fly itself in order for that minion to fly. I'm just lucky that I've already got a large base to work with in the original Overmind's Zerg Swarm. If I was stuck absorbing only what I found here on this planet, then I'd have been screwed if I planned to go off world. My Zerg are already developed enough to survive in space though, so I don't have to worry about that.

I guess I'll just have to wait till level five till I can truly start advancing the Zerg then. Something tells me I'm going to need it. With the Adamantium slab put away, I wandered back over to the Hive and settled down with my Queens once more. Just a few minutes more and…

_Zerg Mana – 2,291,863,550_

Bingo! With the new deposit, we can finally get back to the old schedule of creating drones at midnight! I'm really glad this is the case since it's so much easier to get more mana in the long run this way. Now we just need to keep up this schedule, rather than getting distracted from it like last time, even if we didn't have much of a choice in getting distracted by Herobrine.

My Queens immediately set about creating more Drones. Not even half an hour later and I've got 3,524,405 Hives in the making. It seems I've miscalculated though. By the time this group of Hives is done, the entire Overworld will be covered with a grand total of roughly 6 million Hives.

I chuckled seemingly out of nowhere and Asura asked, "What's funny?" I replied, "Hehe, it just occurred to me that this planet doesn't even have a name. We've been referring to it by the different areas for so long that I'm almost starting to think this world's name IS Overworld." Asura smiled indulgently and said, "You could always name this planet, Matthew. It is yours now after all."

I nodded thoughtfully, "It is isn't it? Notch said as much. Hmm… fans of the game Minecraft usually call their different worlds their own names, but the official world, if there ever was one, always seems to be Minecraftia… I think I'll stick with the majority on this one. I name this planet, Minecraftia." My Queens smiled at this, and through the use of another Overlord, I got some apple juice for us to commemorate the occasion. Between the naming of this world and having the Overworld covered with Creep by this afternoon, it's a pretty momentous day.

With nothing left to do for the time being, I took a drink from the Mana pool, refilling my stores, and lowering the Zerg Mana to 1,000,100. After that I spent the rest of the night flying through the sky with my Queens. As expected, it was only a few hours into the night when yesterday's batch of Hives completed. It's amazing how thrilling and relaxing flying is. Before I knew it, midday had come and my latest batch of Hives completed as well, bringing the total number of Hives up to 10,309,082, thus completing the coverage of the Overworld with Creep. The view of the planet from my Overlord in space is pretty amazing. Thanks to the creep coverage, Minecraftia is now a ball of blue and black, with speckles of green from the trees that hadn't been knocked over, and glows in the dark. It's quite the amazing sight.

Unfortunately, at 10 million Hives, I'm finally starting to run out of space to spread the Creep. With the Overworld covered, most of the space available in the Nether covered, a chunk of the Nether's outershell covered, and a large portion of the void covered, it wouldn't really surprise me if this time tomorrow, all space will be taken up and I'll have Drones left over. I haven't really started to spread into the Aether yet, but I really need to start that excavation project now. Before I can do that though, I set my Overlords to searching through the crust of the planet for the gateway to the End. It doesn't even take them an hour to find it with their new speeds and 360 degree eye sight. The Overlords are really showing their worth as gatherers. I might just have them treasure hunt at each planet we come across from now on.

I had the Overlords literally suck up the entire contents of the room and the gate from where they found it and had them set it up next to the Nether portal. It's quite interesting how the blocks seem to float above the edge of the lava. While in Minecraft, most blocks seem to blatently disregard gravity, these are the first blocks I've seen on this planet to actually do so. A wild idea starts to form in my head. If these blocks are capable of disregarding gravity, if I absorb them into the Swarm, then have the Creep develop this stuff on the bottom layer of it, then the Creep could freely float!

Plus if such stuff is unaffected by gravity, then maybe they'll be able to hold up a Hive! Then this can be the stuff that supports each level of the Creep! But what if extra weight cancels out their ignoring gravity? Well, there's one way to find out! I climbed up onto the floating square ring. It didn't budge. I jumped up and down on it with no effect. Next I had an Overlord sit on it. Still no effect! Only one test left to go, though this could be awkward. I ordered the Overlords to dismantle the ring and rebuild it up in the sky. Once finished, I had a Hive teleport itself to sit on the ring. While the edges of the Hive sagged around it, it didn't lose a single bit of elevation! Brilliant!

Having the Hive teleport back to its original spot, then having the Overlords rebuild the ring above the lava, I contemplated what to do. Until I'd gotten to the end, I can't absorb any of this new material yet, but the slots in the top of the rings are mostly empty, displaying that I need seven Eyes of Ender to get to the End. While I don't really know how to make Eyes of Ender, I do know that the ingredient list for such a thing is limited, and it somehow involves Blaze Rods and Ender pearls, both of which I have quite a few already stockpiled along with the rest of the stuff I'd collected in the Storage Hive. After teleporting to grab a bunch of the things, I bring it back to the End Gate.

Scratching my head, I wondered if having a crafting table would help at all? Figuring it couldn't hurt, I had an Overlord collect a chunk of wood from one of the trees not producing Apples. With my chunk of wood available, I called over a Speedling from the Nether. Taking control while simultaneously using my body, a feat that I had never tried before and resolved to practice from now on, I held the block still while I had the Speedling carve the it into a block with the grid pattern on top with the open box off to the side.

That finished, I dropped a blaze rod and an Ender Pearl into the grid squares. As expected, nothing happened. Scratching my head, I removed the Ender Pearl. Interestingly, as soon as I did, the idea popped in my head that I could turn the Blaze rods into Blaze powder. How interesting! I wonder if I dropped planks of wood into the grid squares, would I get the idea of how to build a crafting table from it?

Esoteric thoughts aside, I picked up the Blaze Rod and crushed it into a fine powder with my hands. After depositing it back into the grid, I dropped an Ender Pearl into the mix. To my surprise, the Ender Pearl absorbed the Blaze Powder and took on an almost creepy glow with an eye not unlike that of Sauron from Lord of the Rings. Picking it up, I slotted it into the ring. It settled into the opening and its glow dimmed.

Luckily enough, I found the Ender Pearl had only absorbed half of the powder, so I dropped another pearl into the stuff. Three Blaze Rods and five Ender Pearls later, and I slotted the seventh Eye of Ender into the ring. As soon as it finished, an image of the night sky appeared within the ring, blocking the sight of the pool of lava below it.

Turning to my Queens, I said, "Time to finish this." They nodded with various degrees of seriousness. Rose and Snow opted to go first. I agreed on the provision we all went through invisible. From now on any foray into enemy territory will be done invisibly unless morale needs destroyed beforehand. Agreeing, we all jumped through the End Portal.

-END CHAPTER-

Overmind mana – 2500/2500

Zerg Mana – 1,000,600/1,000,000,000,000

Zerg Supply – 1,298/33,923,385 (17,622,025 pending)

Units:

1 Overmind

1079 Overlords

2 Drones

11 Speedlings

6 Queens

100 Hydralisks

Structures:

6,784,677 Hives (3,524,405 pending)

1 Spawning Pool

2 Evolution Chambers

1 Hydralisk Den

1 Roach Warren

1 Baneling Nest

1 Nydus Network

1 Spire

1 Infestation Pit


	24. Chapter 24

In the End, the entire event was rather anticlimactic. As I suspected, we popped up on the surface of the Moon. The spires of Obsidian with the strange devices sitting atop them which fueled the EnderDragon's health as it flew by were all there. Since we're invisible, the EnderDragon didn't notice us. The Endermen were everywhere, but looking at them did nothing since none of them could even notice our presence.

Together, my Queens and I blasted the whole lot with Lightning. The fight didn't even last a fraction of a second. I left one of those jewel things untouched for Analysis though. The EnderDragon floated up into the sky and once it disappeared, a portal below it opened up with an egg sitting on top of it. Grabbing it and the jewel device, it was a matter of moments to port them over to the Evolution Chamber and toss them in the analysis pool.

With that finished, I called up a Speedling and had it jump through the Portal the EnderDragon had created. I wasn't sure what would happen, but I didn't want to risk anything crazy by jumping through myself, and I sure as heck wasn't going to risk my Queens in this either. Making sure to keep my presence back but still keep an eye through the Speedling on what happened. I saw nothing but darkness until suddenly my connection to the Speedling got severed. The next thing I know, the Speedling I sent through is racing away from the spot it was originally created at, and started to attack the nearest Hive. I tried wrestling control of it, but it didn't answer. I had the Hive skewer the thing. While anything less than Adamantium won't affect Adamantium, Adamantium can still affect Adamantium, otherwise I'd have had to have an Overlord pick up the thing and shake it to pieces or something.

It wasn't dead yet though, so I ported over to the thing with my Queens hoping my proximity would help overwhelm whatever had taken control of my Zergling. Unfortunately it didn't work, but I was able to get an idea of what I'm up against. The Darkness had enslaved my Zergling, and through it, I could see that the Darkness itself is thankfully not a sentient entity, or else with its power we'd be screwed. The only reason my Speedling had been taken from me is that it seems whatever touches the Darkness is enslaved to it, and the portal created by the Enderdragon is choked with it. I'm guessing that the Darkness itself is sort of equivalent to the Darkside of the Force. It's not an actual being, but using it poisons whoever touches it to its will, so I'm probably going to end up facing quite a few champions of this Darkness sooner or later. If they're anything like Herobrine, then I shudder to think what I might face in the future.

Taking pity on my Zergling, I fried it to put it out of its misery. If only I had the ability to reverse the enslavement to the Darkness. As soon as I get access to Cerebrates, the first thing I'm going to have them do is reverse engineer that enslave to the Darkness ability. Hopefully they'll be able to come up with a way to reverse the enslavement that way.

Porting back to the Moon, I and my Queens tore the portal back to the Overworld apart. Once we'd done that and destroyed the thing into little bits, I paid my respects to Steve, glad that nothing on this planet would be enslaved like that ever again.

Once we'd finished, the analysis pool had completed its analysis too. Evidently those jewel devices are called Ender Crystals and the Ender Dragon can call them into being to heal it specifically. Other than exploding on destruction and healing the creature it created, I deemed the construct useless. The EnderDragon itself also proved to be useless to me since the one ability I was interested in, it's ability to fly through the landscape, didn't appear in it's ability list. This made me wonder if this EnderDragon wouldn't have been able to fly through solid objects? That would seem more logical since this supposed Minecraft world is far more realistic than the game was.

With that finished, I teleported back to the Hive. I feel slightly disappointed at having nothing really to show for it, other than a kind of satisfaction at having avenged Notch's brother to a degree. With this planet all but mine, I turn my sight to the stars. It's high time I see about expansion and send a good lot of my Overlords out exploring the Solar System, using their Teleport to get around more quickly.

With that underway, I turned my attention to the Nydus Worms and commanded one to eat out the ground beneath a few Hives. They all sagged dangerously, but it seems I underestimated the strength of the Creep, though it's barely holding on at this point. Quickly, I toss the end portal ring into the analysis Pool, while having the Nydus Worms hold up the bottom of the Hives. An hour later, the ZGA had finished analyzing the element it had dubbed Gravity Stone, and I had the Creep grow a layer of it on its underside. Immediately the Hives stopped sagging and I had to grin at the success of this experiment. I thus ordered out the excavation of a good layer of dirt and stone underneath each continent, enough for Hives to grow under.

Immediately I hit upon a problem when the roots of the trees were left exposed along with all the creep tumors. Having no real better ideas since removing the dirt had no effect on the plants at all, I had the Creep grow thick enough using a layer of pale ivory colored gravity stone to hide the roots and creep tumors. Thankfully Burrow still seems to be viable to use in this thickened creep, even if the Swarm no long needs such an ability.

I had to wonder what the Nydus Worms were doing with all of the dirt and stuff it ate. As far as I could tell it isn't going anywhere. Maybe they're eating it for real? That seems the most likely explanation. The excavation of the first underground level took nearly the whole night, and only went deep enough to allow the excavation to only uncover the spaces underneath exposed land not covered in oceans.

Once midnight rolled around, my mana increased to 5,155,541,600. Immediately my Queens created 7,930,064 Drones. Grabbing a few of them, I created an Evolution Chamber in the Underworld, the Aether, and the Moon, giving each one a Drone assistant, then I built a Nydus Network on the Moon and the Aether. My Queens then created 7,930,056 Hives with the rest of the Drones. I can only count myself lucky though. With that many Drones added, every single plot of land available to me got covered in one fell swoop. By midday, every single bit of available land I have at the moment will be covered in Creep. Expanding out to the rest of the planets in this solar system just took on a whole new priority. Thankfully my Overlords have already discovered the closest two, though it looks like there may be a small one circling closer to the planet, making this the fourth planet from the sun. Unfortunately, each of those planets are significantly smaller than Minecraftia.

I wouldn't have had enough room for all the new Hives if it weren't for the Nydus Worms already starting on the second level. While they can't dig anymore under the exposed landmasses until the new Hives have finished, they can and have been digging under the Oceans. My Swarm also encountered pockets of monsters holed up in the caves underground, but my Nydus Worms ate them along with the rest of the dirt. Any of the Endermen who tried to escape would inevitably get mowed down by the rest of the Swarm.

By midday next, my new Hives were finished, allowing the Nydus Worms to finish digging out the second level by nightfall. I'd have been astonished at the speed of digging out a surface area just as large as the Overworld, only the Nydus worms had gotten unbelievably efficient at this digging business.

Come nightfall, my Mana jumped up to 9,120,572,875. Unfortunately, I only have enough space for 4.9 million Hives, and going the usual route of building as many Hives as possible has given me 14,030,112 Drones. Luckily, my Overlords did uncover those other planets, so I had all the rest pop over there to cover those planets. To my shock though, roughly 10 million Hives is enough to cover those first three planets entirely! I can hardly believe it! The first planet in the row still has a sliver left of land to cover in creep, but it would only take a few more to cover that up.

With 1,000,075 Mana left, I created an Evolution Chamber and Nydus Network on each planet so they could be hollowed out as well for multiple levels. That lot cost me only 1,575, leaving me with 998,500 Mana. I decided at that point that I need to increase the amount of Overlords I have for faster scouting. Ten minutes later, and I now have 10,000 Overlords, costing me only 892,100. While this leaves me only 106,400 Mana, I'm ok with that for now since I'll be back up to the billions by the next night.

Already, the increase in Overlords pays off with the discovery of the next two planets after Minecraftia. By midday, The Overlords had discovered all seven planets within the system, the last three of which are gas giants, all the size of Jupiter, each with a surface area of roughly 38.5 Trillion Meters. I've no idea how I know they're that big though. The number seemed to just pop up or something. I asked Asura about it but she didn't know either, though she did guess maybe the ZGA gave me the number. Considering that's very possible, I asked, and the ZGA confirmed it. And I thought I'd just been getting really good with math.

Slightly disappointed in my evidently not so uber math skills, I turned my attention back to the gas giants. Since they're gas giants, I can't exactly hollow out the planets, but I might not even have to with flying Hives settling into the upper atmosphere of those giants. Each one could give me the space for 77 Billion Hives! I'd have wondered why I hadn't seen any of those giant planets up in the night sky before now, if it weren't for the fact that they're currently in orbit on the other side of the sun from us and not only that but are also extremely far away. I wonder if I shouldn't also try and place Hives in the Lagrange points of the planets as well. I won't get very many Hives out of them, but altogether with five Lagrange points around seven planets each that should give me quite a large amount of Hives anyway.

Again, midday came and went, increasing my Hive count to 32,269,250. During my free time I did a lot of exploring and flying around, even porting over to the other planets to see them. Running around in low gravity is super fun. I even, with my Queen's permission, checked out how close I could get to the sun without getting destroyed. I didn't think I'd actually be able to touch the sun, even if that was my aim, but I did get surprisingly close before I had to back off or risk frying my insides.

Midnight came, increasing my Mana to 16,134,625,000. That amount gave me 24,822,500 Drones. I'd have gotten less, but I decided to suspend the million mana base line for now. With the third level dug out by the Nydus Worms, I filled that first before sending the Drones off to settle on the 'surface' of the first Gas Giant. 18 Million drones barely even made a visible dot on the surface of it.

This pattern went on the next day, with my total Hives increasing to 57,091,750, and the next night giving me a total of 28,545,875,000 Mana. 12 hours later and my total Hive had increased to 101,008,480. 12 Hours again, and my mana had jumped to 50,504,240,000. 12 more hours, 178,707,310 Hives. 12 hours again gives me 89,353,655,000 Mana. At this point, I'm a bit frustrated at the slow going of the Overlords. Despite there being 10,000 of them, Space is rather vast, and exploring outside of the solar system is proving extremely slow going, even with using Teleportation. As such, I decided to halt my Queens in spreading the Creep for a day, and instead spent the lot of my Mana on Overlords, jumping my total count for them from 10,000 to 893,546,550. Needless to say, the jump in the Overlord count has already seen results. They've already discovered the next closest Solar system.

When I say closest though, I mean that it's retardedly far off. The sheer amount of empty space between my current location and the next system is almost completely ridiculous. As such, I make a mental note to make use of such space. After all, if I can make free floating Hives and Creep, then I can make my own free floating planets of the thing, if not just create stringed webs or other such constructs of Creep trailing freely between the Solar systems. One thing's for sure. As soon as I get access to Cerebrates, I'm going to give one the sole responsibility of spreading the Creep, and I'll make sure to give him a budget of 50 percent of the total mana for it.

But those are thoughts for a later time. For now, I'm getting desperately bored following all the accounting involved in the spreading of the Swarm. I set my Queens to do that, so that's what I'm going to do. As more and more time passed, I spent more and more of the majority of my time simply enjoying myself. Despite the two solar systems I've discovered so far, the only planet with any form of life on it has been this one. I've even taken to starting to explore the vastness of space alongside my Overlords. I don't spend too much time on it though. Being a single person free floating in such vastness makes me feel rather small and insignificant. It's not the greatest feeling in the world to be sure.

Finally, after what felt like a month, but was probably only two weeks or something, my Swarm had gathered enough for the next level.

_Evolution Lvl 4_

_New Buildings: _

_Ultralisk Den_

_Spire-Greater Spire_

_Defiler Mound_

_Nydus Canal_

_New Units:_

_Ultralisk_

_Defiler_

_Leviathan_

_New Evolutions:_

_Pathogen Glands – Increased starting energy for the Infestor_

_Overmind Lvl 4_

_Health – 400/400_

_Mana – 12500/12500_

_Abilities:_

_Physical:_

_Spawn Hive (200 Mana) – Grows a Zerg Lair at your current location (12 hours)_

_Burrow (0 Mana) – Go underground; unable to move; can only be detected by sensors_

_Burrow Move (0 Mana) – Ability to move underground when burrowed_

_Transfusion (50 Mana) – Instantly transfer 125 health to biological unit or structure_

_Shapeshift (0 Mana) – Take on the appearance of any target similar in size_

_Adamantium Armor (Passive) – All physical type damage is blocked 100%_

_Photosynthesis (Passive) – Ability to obtain partial sustance from light sources_

_Psionic:_

_PSI Assault (1 Mana) – Casts a focused PSI attack at one enemy _

_PSI Blast (10 Mana) – Fires a focused ball of PSI energy at a single enemy_

_PSI Storm (50+ Mana) – Casts a localized storm of PSI energy_

_Flight: Mind Over Matter (0 Mana) – Can propel yourself using only your mind, limited only by the mind_

_PSI Guantlet Lvl 3 (Passive) – Mana Above 0; Strength increased by factor of 30_

_PSI Armor Lvl 3 (Passive) – Mana Above 0; All attacks do 75% less damage_

_PSI Sensor (Passive) – Mana Above 0; Able to detect cloaked, burrowed, and hallucinated units_

_Magic:_

_Exploding Fireball (5 Mana) – Explodes on contact, not affected by gravity, spreads flame, deflected by opposing opposite force_

_Fire Charge (2 Mana) – Shoots rapid balls of fire in three round bursts after each charge_

_Self Combustion (1 Mana per second) – Wrap yourself in flames spontaneously_

_Lightning Lvl 3 (0 Mana) – Can cast a lightning bolt into any location, even without sky_

_Animation (10 Mana) - Give inananimate objects a limited form of life; enslaved_

_Reanimation (15 Mana) – Give limited life to the biological deceased; enslaved_

_Teleport Lvl 3 (0 Mana) – Can teleport any distance, into any solid, liquid, gas, or plasma, so long as you've been to the location before_

_Invisibility Lvl 3 (0 Mana) – Can become undetectable to any source, can choose to reveal yourself to individual sources_

_Flight: Flame Propulsion (1 Mana per second) – Fly using the thrust of conjured flame_

_Fire Immunity (Passive) – Mana above 0; 100% immune to heat, fire, lava, etc._

_Celestial:_

_Creation Lvl 1 (500 Mana) - Able to build anything with your mind you already know how to build manually; size limited to ten times your own size_

_Adaptive Strength (Passive) – Base strength is set automatically to allow the ability to lift and throw any weight_

_Incorporeal (Passive) – Take on a non physical state automatically in reaction to any danger_

_True Sight (Passive) – Able to see through any limitation to vision (ie. Lack of light, solid matter)_

Hm. Well that didn't change much. Having Leviathans is nice, but technically my Swarm has been space ready for a while now, though I'm sure having access to warp space will make getting places much faster. Checking a drone and a larvae to see the command list for my new units and buildings, I had to blink at the price of a Leviathan. The Ultralisk would cost me 500 mana and the Defiler would cost me 200 mana, but the Leviathan costs a whopping 2000 mana to build, far outstripping even the cost of a Hive. Also shocking is the time involved. So far everything I've made has been in the range of half an hour to an hour to two hours, with my Hive taking the most time at 12 hours. The Leviathan takes 48 hours to finish. Pretty impressive for something so large, but still shocking considering what I've been used to. I also note that rather than costing support, a Leviathan would add support to the Swarm, the same amount as an Overlord actually.

Immediately, I order a larvae to morph into a Leviathan, only to be surprised as all three larvae clump together to make the single most massive Zerg egg sac I've ever seen. While I'm waiting for it to finish birthing, I establish the Defiler Mound and Ultralisk Den on Minecraftia. Then just to be thorough, I set up a full range of all the Zerg support buildings on each of the planets in the system. That way if by some strange chance one set of them gets destroyed, it won't be a problem for the Swarm. I'm tempted to build a Nydus Canal Network, but considering the teleport capabilities the entire Swarm has, I decide against it. I also went ahead and morphed all the Spires to Greater Spires as well.

I didn't like having to wait the two days just to see the Leviathan, but I got through it all the same. Finally, the egg sac ripped away and the Leviathan flew up into the air, hovering like some giant massive super blimp… with tentacles. I had not expected the tentacles. To be honest, when I thought of the Leviathans, I'd always thought of them as giant manta ray looking things. This thing looks more like a giant tick with tentacles for legs, and it flies. I'm simultaneously disappointed and creeped out by it. At least my Swarm's colors make it look a bit cooler than I suspect it would have been otherwise.

Shaking my head, I set aside it's looks for now and call up the creature's command list. I am a bit astonished at its abilities. For one, it's practically a giant overgrown Overlord. It's a passive sensor along with providing transport and support. Other than that, it can use its tentacles to attack, as well as vomit out a swarm of bug like creatures that are like mini scourge, giving it both melee and ranged attack abilities. In addition to this, it can also shoot out a bio plasmid discharge, doing tons of damage, as well as firing out a biostasis, which is really just a glorified term for giving an enemy what amounts to fungal overgrowth on steroids, pretty much locking anything up that it touches, but is a bit short lived. More surprising though is that the Leviathan can give birth directly to Mutalisks and Overlords. This is all in addition to the Swarm wide changes I'd already made of course, so the thing can also teleport, cast lightning, go invisible, become incorporeal, and see through anything that would normally block sight.

Also, just like my Queens had said it could, it seems the Leviathan is capable of entering warp space. I query the ZGA to see if that can be shared out at all, but evidently it's a physical type evolution, and requires a huge chunk of space, which is half the reason the Leviathan is so large in the first place. Looking at the thing, it's a bit difficult to really judge or grasp the size of it. If I had to guess, I'd say it's roughly the size of my original island and you could probably fit at least ten Hives comfortably inside of the thing.

Entering the Leviathan itself, I amended my previous statement. If the entire thing had been hollow, you could fit ten Hives in here comfortably. Looking on the inside like this, I'd say you could probably fit five of them in here if you squished them together. I considered building a Hive in the interior of the Leviathan, then after some thought, I figured why not, and did just that. With the Hive finished, the interior of the Leviathan, including the walls and ceiling, got coated in a layer of glowing Creep. I'm a bit surprised the Creep had traveled up the walls like that, but I shrugged, figuring it needed somewhere to grow so it did just that.

Over the course of the next week I grew six other Leviathans, one for each of my Queens, just because I could, each complete with Hives in their interior. I knew they didn't actually need them or anything, but it doesn't really matter.

-END CHAPTER-

Overmind mana – 2500/2500

Zerg Mana – 1,000,075/1,000,000,000,000

Units:

1 Overmind

893,546,550 Overlords

5 Drones

11 Speedlings

6 Queens

100 Hydralisks

Structures:

57,091,750 Hives

7 Spawning Pool

11 Evolution Chambers

7 Hydralisk Den

7 Roach Warren

7 Baneling Nest

10 Nydus Network

7 Greater Spire

7 Infestation Pit

7 Defiler Mound

7 Ultralisk Cavern


	25. Chapter 25

I was on my own personal Leviathan out exploring along with the rest of my space born Zerg when something strange happened. Through my ship's eyes, we spotted what appeared to be some sort of bluish nebula, only the smoke was shooting tendrils out and retracting them, almost like lightning. Curious, I broadcast the sight to my Queens as a heads up and ordered the Leviathan closer to check it out.

As we neared the strange anomaly, one of the blue tendrils of 'lightning' struck out and enveloped us. Before we could do anything though, the nebula disappeared in a flash. I'd have thought nothing happened, if not for the fact that my connection to my Queens and the rest of my Swarm suddenly feels almost far away.

Ordering my Leviathan to stay here, I follow the connection to my Queens teleporting over to them. As soon as I appear next to them I have to bend over to catch my breath. Never before had teleporting taken such an effort before. Once I'd caught my breath, I explained to my Queens what happened, checking over my Swarm, including my Leviathan. My connection to the rest of the Swarm seems fine now, but now it's my Leviathan's connection that feels far away.

It's a strange sensation that's for certain. Bringing my Queens and their Leviathans with me, we teleported back to my Leviathan. On a whim, I had the lot of us enter Warp rather than teleport back to Minecraftia.

A couple hours later and our Leviathans pulled out of warp above Minecraftia, only the planet below us isn't MInecraftia, and the Swarm still feels far away. No, the planet below us is a simple rock in space, like the other first four planets. Checking up on the three gas giants orbiting on the other side of the sun from this fake Minecraftia, we hit a very interesting discovery.

One of the moons orbiting the nearest gas giant is habitable, when it wasn't before. Even more interesting than before is that there is some kind of satellite facility in geosynchronous orbit above the moon. It looks manmade, if just a bit futuristic.

Quickly, I have my Leviathans cloak so as not to be detected. After moving the Leviathans forward a bit, I teleported out of my Leviathan to get closer to the station, making sure to be invisible myself. I don't know why, but something about this seems almost familiar to me. Like I've seen this somewhere before, but I'm not exactly recalling where.

On my approach, one of the shuttles undocks and starts heading to the surface. Curious, I follow behind, with my Queens quickly joining me rather than observe from their own Leviathans. Down into the atmosphere we follow, the entire time I search my memory, trying to figure out where I've seen this before. It's as the shuttle is landing at a clearly manmade futuristic military base that the answer hits me like a ton of bricks.

Avatar. Pandora. Jake Sully. The Na'vi. I recognized the shuttle because it featured in the beginning scene of the movie! Suddenly suspicious, I eye the people exiting the shuttle and… there! A guy in a wheel chair just rolled himself out of the shuttle! For all intents and purposes, I just literally entered center stage for a rather famous movie! I can hardly believe this! Flying down even closer, I land behind Jake Sully wheeling himself inside the compound and follow him, my Queens following close behind, curious.

I watch, awe struck as Jake wheels himself into a room full of marines and given a safety brief on the dangers of Pandora. I shook my head. While in the movie, Jake's narration would point out that the familiarity of a safety brief calms and helps him feel more comfortable, I personally never liked them myself. I find myself boring quickly and teleport myself back to the Leviathan, with my Queens quickly following behind.

"What is this?" asked Asura. I looked up at her and shook my head in puzzlement, then explained all I knew of the movie Avatar that I could remember. When I wound down afterwards, I couldn't help but wonder just how the heck did we get here, and why is Pandora sitting in the place that Minecraftia is supposed to be at?

I voiced this question aloud to my Queens, but they had no answer. Still thinking aloud, I wondered, "Is it possible that the blue nebula I came across was actually an entrance to another dimension, or even an entire parallel existence?" My Queens looked at each other not understanding at all what I'd just said, so I ended up explaining to them dimensional, timeline, and parallel theory. In the end Asura said, "Such things are beyond us, Matthew. More, there might not even be a way to tell in which type of place we've ended up."

I nodded, then said brightly, "Well, either way this does open up more frontier space to explore and expand the Zerg." Faye spoke up, asking, "What if that blue nebula only sent you a long distance from Minecraftia? That would explain the distance we feel to the rest of the Swarm." I answered, "Possible, but you can use the stars as navigation, and all the stars seen from here are the same ones you can see from the same position above Minecraftia, so unless we got flung to another galaxy extremely far away that somehow has the exact same positions of stars as Minecraftia does, I don't think we're still in the same universe."

That brought our conversation to a halt as I considered what to do from here. Coming across Pandora really is fairly interesting, but in the end mostly useless to us. The creatures here that I'm aware of aren't very useful to the Swarm, plus the Na'vi are extremely territorial. I don't think they'd look kindly on my moving in and perverting the look of their forest. The other planets around however, those I would be interested in spreading about. Of more importance to me though, is that these guys can lead me back to Earth! Sure, it won't be the same Earth, but just knowing the location of it will help. Planets tend to stay in the same location from parallel to parallel and dimension to dimension, or so I hoped anyway. I've no real idea if that's true or not, but it's the best lead I've got at the moment.

-END CHAPTER-

Overmind mana – 2500/2500

Zerg Mana – 1,000,075/1,000,000,000,000

Units:

1 Overmind

893,546,550 Overlords

5 Drones

11 Speedlings

6 Queens

100 Hydralisks

Structures:

57,091,750 Hives

7 Spawning Pool

11 Evolution Chambers

7 Hydralisk Den

7 Roach Warren

7 Baneling Nest

10 Nydus Network

7 Greater Spire

7 Infestation Pit

7 Defiler Mound

7 Ultralisk Cavern


	26. Chapter 26

Making my way back down to the surface, I gave orders to my Queens to keep spreading out the Creep, including here, but not where it might be visible. I'd have just suggested on turning the entire lot of creep and Hives invisible to hide it, but for some reason invisible creep doesn't absorb light to convert to Mana, which is why I never tried it back on Minecraftia. That particular discovery was a more recent one though in the days, or was it weeks, leading up to the fourth evolution.

I decided to follow Jake around, considering he's practically the main protagonist of the movie. I also did a bit of sneaking around the command center trying to see if I could figure out through overhearing where Earth might be. Unfortunately no one really talked about it. I guess it makes sense though. Discussing where your home planet is when everyone you talk to probably already knows where it is just seems silly, so no luck there.

No ships were coming or going to any particular direction either. At the rate this is going, I'm probably going to have to stick around until Jake sends the other humans packing back to Earth. In the meantime I suppose I should try and help out when possible. A lot of people died in that last battle after all. If that could be avoided this time, it would all be of the good.

Actually… there's an interesting thought there. What if I could somehow mediate between the Na'vi and the humans to allow peaceful coexistence? To do that though, I'd have to remove the underlying problem, which is the current mining method of the human race. Explaining to the Na'vi what the humans are there for does little good if they're going to be absolutely pissed when they find their home has been strip mined. Not to mention I'm fairly certain that the Unobtainium, a stupid mineral name if there ever was one, is the very reason that the trees were even able to become a world size biological computer in the first place.

Unfortunately, I don't have any viable methods to replace their mining operations in the first place anyways, since my Zerg either strip mine or suck the minerals straight out of the ground. No, the only thing for it is to put a halt to the mining here. I'm pretty certain the whole of humanity isn't going to like that though. Actually, thinking about it now, considering the level of tech this version of humanity is at, and the fact they even have a mining base out here with buildings that are capable of either generating or converting the atmosphere outside to be breathable for humans… that's almost a guarantee that humanity probably has a wide range of colonies throughout their solar system, if not additional colonization sites located throughout this corner of the galaxy.

It's one thing to piss off a planet with a few outlying mining operations. It's a whole different ball game to piss off a budding galactic super power. The only reason I'm not too worried is that this version of humanity is still only a sub light race, otherwise Jake wouldn't have had to spend six years asleep while their ship made the trip here to Pandora. No matter how you cut it, a warp capable race is always going to have a serious tactical advantage over a sublight race, to the point of the latter challenging the former being laughable.

Granted, my Zerg only just recently became warp capable, but it's still a huge leap in tactical advantage. Add that to the fact that my Zerg are impervious to physical damage, can become undetectable to anything that 'sees' the visible and invisible light spectrum, can teleport individually, and phase out of existence automatically if they recognize the incoming attack can actually damage them? No, I don't expect much of anything out there could take my race on. Better safe than sorry though. I'm not about to fall for the trap that is underestimating my opponents like Herobrine did.

In the meantime, my Queens are reaping the benefits of having learned how to read, and are having a field day popping around the base invisible, peeking over shoulders, reading, and generally consuming knowledge at a rate that is simply mindboggling. Better yet, everything they read is allowing me to peripherally understand all that they're learning thanks to my status as Overmind. I probably wouldn't be able to explain jack of any of it, considering so far everything they're covering is extremely disjointed, but doesn't mean I shouldn't be able to apply what they learn at the very least. Their enthusiasm is also infectious.

I watched in interest as Jake got first hooked up into the machine that would transfer his cognitive processes to that of the Avatar's. The idea of wirelessly transmitting your conscious to that of a clone's body is particularly interesting, especially as I watched the psionic side of things with my senses. I could literally see as the connection was made to the Avatar body while Jake's human body slipped into what amounts to a controlled coma. To say I found the entire process fascinating would be an understatement. Granted, as the Overmind, I'm already quite capable of projecting my own conscious to that of any of my Zerg, but to see a machine that can do the same thing without any of the psionic processes involved is simply amazing. I wonder if my Queens could learn to do something similar if they were able to study and recreate the process this machine uses?

My musings were cut short at the equivalent of a knock on the door psionically speaking. Startled, I turned my head to face the 'direction' the knock came from, despite such a metaphysical connection not truly coming from any direction unless the direction 'everywhere' counts. I suppose if I were off this planetoid, there'd be a direction, but the psionic who just knocked on my mental shields just happens to be the giant biological computer the natives call Eywa, which is by all rights and purposes, the entire planetoid itself.

Tentatively, I opened a small connection to allow dialogue, and almost got overloaded by a stream of chatter. Automatically my mind slowed the process down to a more manageable level so that I could understand what was being said. In so doing, I learned quite a few interesting things. For one, Eywa isn't a sentient, though the many natives and creatures that are 'downloaded' into its 'memory banks' are, and that collective is what had noticed I and my race's presence, and they're excited to make contact with another psionically capable race. At this point I had to stop and boggle at the fact that I'd literally just made contact with the biological equivalent of the Geth. Wouldn't that throw them for a loop if I ever introduced the two? Not that I see that happening…

Besides the sheer amount of Na'vi consciousness' located within Eywa, there's also millions, even billions, of just about every other form of life stored as a biodigital copy within its memory. It's also at this point that Eywa is in the process of informing me of the entire history of the planet since Eywa's conception (which I skimmed past rather than listen to the life of every single individual creature on the planet), it informed me on the more recent side of events how humanity came, landed, installed their base, and how for every piece of 'Unobtainium' removed from the planet, Eywa's processing power has been decreasing, resulting in the 'deaths' of hundreds of thousands of conciousness' daily.

It was at that moment my resolve firmed. I couldn't just stand by and let this happen while I had the power to do something about it, pissing off a budding galactic super power be damned. This resolve automatically translated over to Eywa, who's collective were overjoyed and were doing quite a bit of self congratulating, knowing that despite Eywa's disastrous first contact with extraterrestrial life in the form of humanity, their second contact proved to be everything they'd hoped for.

Pushing this connection to the back of my mind, I returned my focus to see Jake Sully in his Avatar form running out the door. I phased (read noclipped) through the wall to follow and watched as another scene from the movie played out in front of me. Despite having seen it already, it's still hard to believe that if I left things alone, ultimately Jake would still resolve this situation on his own, albeit with the deaths of hundreds of sentients, and non, as a result. Can I do a better job? Regardless if I do, there's no telling whether or not humanity won't just come back to finish what they started at a later date. It would've taken 12 years at minimum after the events of the movie, but I guarantee rich stupid pompous pricks aren't going to care for the rights of another race over the lining of their own pocket, since respecting the Na'vi isn't going to earn them money. Despicable.

As such, I guess Eywa gets to be my second race to be claimed under the protection of the Zerg, along with the Testificates of Minecraftia. As I start planning on how to go about with said protection, ultimately pissing off this version of the human race, I can only hope it'll be worth it.

-END CHAPTER-

Overmind mana – 2500/2500

Real Estate:

7 Planets

14 Moons

0 Satellites

Zerg Sentients:

1 Overmind

6 Queens

Races Met:

Testificates – Vassal/Friendly

Ewa – Vassal/Friendly

Humans (Avatar) – Neutral/Unknown

A/N: I never thought I'd pick this back up, but after reposting it and seeing the overwhelming response for this story, I decided to give it a reread, and to my astonishment, I actually found this version to be better written then the reboot! Either way, both were meant to follow the same general story line, even if one will end up veering off plot wise in the end thanks to the way I established dimensional separation between universes in this story, whereas 'For The Swarm' only has physical separation. Either way, I've got quite a few ideas for this story, one I happened to hint at in this chapter. The trick is actually getting there, what with my muse being so fickle…  
I've also decided to drop tracking the individual buildings, units, and economy at this time, since the sheer amount of Zerg and Supply available at this point negates the need to keep track.

Thanks to all those who favorited, followed, and reviewed! Hard to believe so many people like this story when I was practically anonymous before I posted these…


	27. Chapter 27

It didn't take me long, before I decided there's no way I could handle this on my own and teleported over to my Leviathan, calling the girls to me, so that way we could talk about this. As soon as we were all aboard, we took a seat, which amusingly meant that my queens waited till I sat down then promptly snuggled in around me, Cuddles in particular wrapping herself around my back.

After we were all settled and relaxed I told them the situation in total for this planet, describing the movie, Avatar, to the best of my ability and everything that happened in it. I told them about my contact with Eywa and all I'd learned about it. They were all horrified to learn of the death's of the conciousness' due to the removal of the unobtainium. Asura at this point asked, "What exactly is 'Unobtainium', that it would result in these deaths?"

I answered, "Unobtainium is an almost ridiculously powerful super conductor. You all saw those floating mountains, the ones the humans here call Hallelujah?" At their nods, I continued, "All of that is being done by sheer electromagnetism. That should be impossible, considering just how powerful of a magnet would be required to heft thousands of tons of mountain to free float in the sky like that. And yet Unobtainium pulls it off. I'll be darned if I can figure out how though. Super conductors should naturally repel magnetic fields, not attract them."

Taking a deep breath, I continued, "The real problem is that Unobtainium is the key component that allowed Eywa to grow into the biological computer it is today. After so many years, it's expanded to use every bit of Unobtainium within the planet in order to power its own processes. For every piece removed, that's less power for Eywa to run on, resulting in whatever that Unobtainium was helping to power dying."

The others nodded in comprehension while Snow commented, "Sounds useful, this Unobtainium. The Swarm could greatly benefit from its incorporation, and unlike these humans, we only need to analyze a piece and then we can manufacture our own."

Rose countered, "But any piece we take would result in the deaths of more stored sentients! We couldn't just take a piece and end up killing off so many for our own gain!" Joy agreed, and Snow nodded, frowning. Cuddles piped in then saying, "What if we provided a way for Eywa to support all those sentients without requiring the use of Unobtainium?"

Asura nodded thoughtfully, "That could work… if we took care of Eywa's dependence on Unobtainium, then taking a piece wouldn't harm them after that. And it would be possible, considering we Zerg can sustain an unlimited amount of Zerg conciousness' within the Overmind's Psionic presence. It would require Eywa becoming similar to the Zerg, and forming a single entity capable of generating a psionic presence similar to that of our Matthew. It'd be difficult… but it'd be possible…"

Cuddles nodded, then shrugged, "Or we could just incorporate them into the Swarm. That'd solve the issue immediately, and I'm getting some interesting ideas for how we could incorporate their 'memory banks' aka 'trees' into our Creep…"

A collective shiver ran up our spines upon her proclamation of this, and I said, "Cuddles, I love you, but you can be a bit scary sometimes." Cuddles merely blinked innocently while I kept getting flashes of mad scientist experiments in the future. I shivered again, and cuddles simply hugged me tighter.

Shaking my head, I answered, "So it seems we have two options available to give Eywa then. We don't necessarily need to take any Unobtainium from 'her' though. There is another option. According to Eywa and the sheer amount of information she provided me, most of which I'm still sifting through and discarding, it turns out that giant satellite the human's have sitting in orbit? It's actually a ship, and they use Unobtainium for its propulsion. I'm certain we can reason with the Pandoran Humans, but if it comes down to destroying them to protect Eywa, we could get our source of Unobtainium there. I'd prefer not to have it come to that though."

Everyone agreed to that, while we all lapsed into silence thinking about the problem. After a while, Joy timidly raised her hand, "I have an idea…"

It wasn't even half an hour later as night fell on the human base, Hell's Gate, and we started implementing Joy's idea. Teleporting into the bedroom of Parker Selfridge, the director overseeing the running of Pandoran Mining Operations, I maintained my invisibility and projected myself into his dream. Truthfully, I could've done this back on the Leviathan, but there's something to be said about actually being at the location to see the results of your actions.

In the dream, I showed Parker the events of the movie, both from his own, and the audience's perspective. I showed it to him in such a way that it would seem to him as if he was actually there and wasn't even asleep. That done, I recreated this very room in his mind so it would seem he'd woken up from the dream only to confront me.

Parker, waking up in the dream, started upon seeing 'me', and asked, "Who are you?" a little edgy. I guess seeing what would happen if I hadn't shown up has put him off a little bit. There's no doubt in his mind that's what would happen. Considering I took the opportunity to implement the idea from Inception, and implant the idea that what he's seeing is true, which in this case, it is.

I answered, "My name is Matthew, and I'm your only chance to keep what you saw from happening." Parker looked me up and down, judging me by appearance, and asked scornfully, "No offense kid, but how could you stop what I saw? Not that it matters, because I could stop it myself. The science expedition aspect of this operation was always just a side venture, a hope that negotiations between us and the natives of this planet might be successful. Now that I know it won't, I can just shut them down, and cart Sully and the rest of the science team back to Earth. Problem solved."

I internally winced, not having considered that possibility. I'd have to be a bit more careful with what a person could do with the information I give them in the future. Luckily there's an easy fix for this. I cocked my head to the side and said, "You won't though." Parker snorted, seemingly amused and didn't even deign to answer. I smirked a little and said, "No really, you won't. You know why?" Parker decided to bite and asked, "Why?" I answered simply, "Because I'm also the only thing standing between you and this."

With that, I materialized a Hydralisk off to the side and behind me, snarling and looking for all intents and purposes as though it'd like nothing more than to rip into Parker right then and there. To the man's credit, he didn't soil himself or cower in fear. Instead he yelped in shock and his hand dove under his pillow to draw a handgun out to bear it down on the Hydralisk. I made the gun poof out existence with a wave of my hand.

Parker looked between his hand, me, and the Hydralisk, back to me, and asked, horrified, "What ARE you?" I gave a small bow and answered, "I am the Overmind of the Zerg Swarm, and I command forces similar to this," I jerked my thumb at the Hydralisk, "that are too many to count, and most of which are far, far worse."

With a wave of my hand I made the 'Hydralisk', which was really just an illusion but he didn't know that, disappear like I did with the gun. I had Parker's full attention now, that's for sure. As if I hadn't just scared the crap out of the Director, I continued nonchalantly, "You see, when I first arrived at Pandora yesterday, I got in contact with Eywa. To simplify it for you so it makes more sense, Eywa is like a giant biological computer. The trees are her memory, the creatures and natives are her programs, and Unobtainium is her power source. I can see you already understand that from what you saw of future events. Good. What you don't know from seeing those events, though it's implied, is that each time one of those creatures dies, it's consciousness really does get stored in Eywa, into the trees. It's memory."

"What you also don't know is that Eywa has had a long time to grow and develop into what it is today. It's expanded to the point that every single piece of Unobtainium on this planet is used as power to keep each of the conciousness' stored in those trees, alive. That means for every single piece of Unobtainium you remove from this planet, you're killing hundreds if not thousands of beings. Every. Single. Day. Every time you destroy a tree, it's not much better. The only difference is that the sentients stored there in memory form at least have a chance to escape, though most perish anyway."

Parker looked appropriately horrified, proving he's not too far gone, and asked, "So that means, in those future events… when that giant tree the Omaticayan's use as their home is destroyed…" I nodded and answered, "Half a million souls died." For a moment, neither of us spoke, barely comprehending the horror of the moment.

Finally, I cleared my throat and said, "These deaths are unacceptable. When Eywa contacted me, 'she' informed me of this in the hopes I would do what I can to aid her. I've since accepted 'her' as under the protection of the Zerg. My protection. It was suggested to me that I try and talk to you first to reach an agreement, but barring that, I will take steps to remove humanity from Pandora by force if necessary. I really hope it doesn't come to that though. I dislike having to destroy anything if it can be avoided."

Parker gaped at me, then seemed to fall into himself, considering all I'd said. After half a minute or so, he looked back up and said, "It's obvious enough that you want the mining operation stopped, but I don't see how I can do that. My hands are tied by my stockholders, and the fact that without Unobtainium, humanity would destroy itself due to the energy crisis we're facing. This is the only planet we've come across that has Unobtainium, and it's the only resource we've found that even remotely has the potential to solve our energy crisis. Without it… humanity is dying. We tried strip mining whole planets, but it turns out you can only find fossil fuels on planets that actually have, or had, life on them. This is the first planet we've come across to support life, and we used the last of our resources to get here, only to find Unobtainium. I'm all for stopping the mining and not destroying another race just to save ours, but you'll find that view point to be a little unique among our people. It won't convince them.

I glanced up in the general direction of their ship, the Venture Star, or where it would be if this weren't a dream, and asked, "How can you be facing such a crisis when you have a ship that runs off solar energy?" Parker responded, "Clean energy sources were never enough to be seen as a viable source of power to replace fossil fuels. If it weren't for that though, we wouldn't have any energy at all, considering our planet is mostly dead. Practically no plant life, animals, or oceans exist anymore, once it'd all been harvested in an attempt to convert it into fuel, or simply destroyed as we expanded. Not all of it at once, but remove one, and the rest were soon to follow. I'm certain if they could have, humanity would have tried to burn the atmosphere if it would help solve our energy problems." Parker said that last bit with a touch of scorn. In response, I reevaluated my opinion of him.

Parker, to my surprise, is in the unique position of heading a corporation spear heading an attempt to mine this planet, not for profit, but to save his race. No wonder he still has a conscious and is a good guy in the end! He's a hero masquerading as a cut throat business man. I can't help but feel a little impressed.

Clearing my throat, I said, "What if I were to tell you, that after obtaining a single piece of any object, my race has the ability to create said object from scratch?" Parker's eyes furrowed for a moment, then went impossibly wide and responded, "Then I'd have to say that you're sitting on a gold mine, and literally have the ability to save humanity in the palm of your hands."

I grinned and said, "I trust not a single piece of Unobtainium will be removed from Pandora ever again, no stone turned, and no tree harmed, you give me a single piece of Unobtainium from the stores of your ship, and in return, I'll cram your ship so full of Unobtainium you'll have the stuff oozing out your ears."

Parker nodded, then his eyes narrowed in thought. I waited until he pulled his thoughts together, then he asked, "What's the catch?"

I was taken aback by that. Someone like Parker wouldn't ask that unless he felt he was getting more than he asked for on his side of the deal. What is… oh. I smirked and said, "You seem to be under the impression that the Zerg get nothing out of this deal. Don't forget that while we'd be supplying humanity with Unobtainium, it would also be available for our own use as well. Other than that, well…" I shrugged and continued, "It's my hope that friendly relations can be established between our races. For instance, we could probably keep the military base here, but instead convert it into an embassy for all three of our races. Don't forget I'm representing Eywa in this conversation too."

Parker nodded at that, seemingly satisfied. "I'll recall all personnel to the base, and personally take you up to our ship to retrieve a piece of the Unobtainium we already moved off world then."

I nodded, "That works. I'll appear on base at the tarmac at 1200 hours. And trust me Selfridge. If you double cross me, I'll know." Parker shook his head, "If you can do all you said you can, I wouldn't dream of it." I nodded satisfied, "See you this afternoon then." At that point, I promptly left the dream, seamlessly waking Parker up. I let him catch a glimpse of me before I teleported back to my Leviathan so he'd know it wasn't just a dream.

Granted, I could have just done all that after waking him up for real, but I didn't really want to take the chance if negotiations failed, and if they did, I could have just had him wake up and forget the dream, like most humans do in the first place. That way if he rose a fuss and alerted the base, it wouldn't have really happened, leaving the base in the palm of our hands, still unawares. I made a mental note to never piss off my Queens. It seems even Joy can be scary when she wants to.

-END CHAPTER-

Overmind mana – 2500/2500

Real Estate:

7 Planets

14 Moons

0 Satellites

Zerg Sentients:

1 Overmind

6 Queens

Races Met:

Testificates – Vassal/Friendly

Eywa – Vassal/Friendly

Humans (Avatar) – Neutral/Neutral


	28. Chapter 28

Parker, to his credit, wasn't idle and didn't go back to sleep despite it being practically the middle of the night for him. As soon as he woke up, and saw me (I even had the cheek to wave at him before disappearing), he immediately set off to recall all units to base just like he said he would. His head of security, Colonel Quaritch kicked up a fuss, but Parker cited some emergency code thing and that some VIP's would be showing up on base at 1200 today. I left as they started talking logistics that were quite frankly, boring, even if part of their discussion did involve the possibility of a near limitless supply of Unobtainium.

I teleported back over to my Leviathan to think about things. My Queens were still having a field day picking apart what knowledge they could over the shoulders of the base personnel. I would've warned them not to try logging into the system themselves with someone else's credentials lest there be some anomaly logged for why so and so appeared to be in two places at once, but Asura figured that out on her own somehow. Something to do with a security brief she overheard and passed along to the others.

So in the meantime, I've got my Leviathan, and that of my Queen's Leviathans all to myself. I contemplated going on a knowledge spree along with my Queen's but I decided against it. That kind of thing didn't really interest me like it does them. Looking around for somewhere to sit, I had to sigh though. Something has to be done about this ship. A good seat or a bed would be nice. Heck, just being able to look at walls that don't look like the inside of a person's intestines would be great. Just standing around is not my idea of a good time, and laying on the floor is out since I've had quite enough of the small layer of wetness coating everything. I can only be glad that it isn't slimy. Not even my Hives are quite like this.

Then again, this all could've been fixed if we'd already upgraded that one final level I imagine. Getting my hands on a few Cerebrates, and assigning one to be the Zerg's Geneticist would be great, although the idea of only having one seems foolish in the extreme. The crazy part is that with the exponential rate that my Swarm has been expanding in my home universe, I could've upgraded to level five weeks ago. Yeah, that's right, 500 trillion mana is easy energy right now. If I had that kind of cash flow… I had to shake my head at that though. Energy for the Zerg might as well be money, considering we're limited to what we can do without it, nevermind the fact that we have so much now it'd be next to impossible to use it all up.

Still, I don't really feel comfortable upgrading that 'final' level until this situation is resolved between Eywa and the humans. So it looks like I'm stuck with wet floors for the next 8 to 10 hours. Sighing, I can't help but wonder what's the point of having a creation ability if I can't make a simple chair with it? I've almost half a mind to go steal Parker's bed. It's too bad that I can't just shapeshift up some furniture…

I sat up abruptly, wide eyed, from where I'd laid on the floor. Why can't I just shapeshift up some furniture? I added that ability to the majority of the swarm for disguising purposes and to allow the Creep to generate its own light ages ago! Well, if Shapeshift can alter physical properties like that, why can't my Leviathan do the same?

Grinning in anticipation, I commanded my Leviathan to teleport out of sensor range of the humans and maneuver behind one of the other planets. That done, I took a deep breath and set to work. Like an artist with a canvas, I had my Leviathan Shapeshift its appearance in real time as I imagined what I wanted my command ship to look like. Gone are the moist intestinal walls to be replaced with gleaming white bulwarks with inlines of glowing blue patterns and runes, with an arched ceiling, with a ribbed appearance to keep that almost biological feel to it. Gone are the wet squishy floors to be replaced by a deep red shag carpet that would keep its appearance after being stepped on. Everywhere I went, I borrowed aesthetic ideas from the Protoss, Alterans, Atlanteans, and even the Xenomorph's to keep that sort of biological feel to it.

I kinda went wild with it, changing parts of the ship's interior to follow a certain style depending on what its function is. For example, the largest room where my Hives and hatcheries are got formed into a cross between Minecraftia and the forests of Pandora, even borrowing some elements from elvish lore and making the Hives inside look like giant trees with technology seamlessly interwoven in them.

I definitely didn't leave the outside alone that's for sure. Popping back out and eyeing the Leviathan critically, I changed its appearance on the fly, twisting a piece of metal there, adding some contours and shape there. The end result is a gleaming white ship with bright red trim that looks like a cross between the Andromeda Ascendant and concept art for the Protoss Carrier in Starcraft 2 before it was released. I studied it critically, then nodded, satisfied with my work. The Leviathan actually had to take on a lot of mass to make all the changes that it did. Originally, I'd have put it at about the size of Manhattan island. Now, it'd probably fit snuggly inside Lake Okeechobee. As for where it got that mass, I've no idea.

It couldn't have converted energy to mass could it? I know that the Zerg can already convert mass to energy in the form of nutrients and minerals into mana, and then uses that energy to excite growth as a form of energy to mass, but it had to get that mass from somewhere, usually from the Drone or the Larvae it sprung from, explaining why they're so dense. This though… the Leviathan couldn't have drawn more mass from an outside source, and direct energy to mass conversion is impossible last I checked. Maybe it just redistributed the mass it already had available? Wouldn't that weaken the Leviathan as a whole though?

How to test it though? I could just try and tap on it harder and harder until it causes damage, but thanks to the Adamantium armor upgrade, which I honestly have no idea how that works on an atomic level to allow complete negation of physical damage, it wouldn't matter how hard I hit the Leviathan. even if it spread out to paper thin, so long as it's outer shell kept the properties of Adamantium armor, which my Leviathan has, nothing will scratch it. Doesn't change the possibility of damage to the interior though, since concussive force could still rattle the interior of my ship around, kind of like if you grabbed a piggy bank and shook it around, the kinetic force would cause the pennies inside to rattle, even if the force exerted isn't about to crack the bank's porcelain shell.

That noted, I doubt there's any way my Leviathan could make every surface in its interior and exterior have the properties of Adamantium armor with the amount of mass it has available. I don't want to make my ship look cool only to have my Leviathan die from brain damage or internal hemorrhaging, since no matter how much I change its external appearance, the Leviathan still needs to maintain some biological functions in order to remain alive, even if one were to convert its blood vessels to metal wall piping, or convert its brain to a computer mainframe, or nerve endings to electrical wiring. There's just too little mass to make it all have the properties of Adamantium. Not unless I were to sacrifice a few rooms and their decorations, and redistributed space to allow the Leviathan to return to its original size.

Sighing, I do just that. Don't get me wrong, being as big as Manhattan island is still pretty impressive, but still, having to downsize my ship to conform to limitations after having gone on a creative spree kinda sucks. Giving my ship another once over, I contemplated the color scheme. Unlike other people, my favorite colors tend to change with my mood. I don't have a set favorite color really. Right now, I'm kinda of in a white and red mood, though I imagine if I were on the war path, pitch black and demonic red would be more appropriate. Well, my Leviathan is a living creature, and this is my ship. I'll just let my Leviathan choose what color it wants to be based on my current preference. I steadfastly ignored the fact that I technically just turned my entire ship into one giant mood ring and teleported onto the bridge.

The bridge looks more like a really comfortable sitting room with a giant wrap around window to the outside, even though it's not really the outside, since the room is actually located just a little bit in front the brain/mainframe of my ship, which I relocated to dead center in the Leviathan when I rearranged everything. I don't really need the window since I can see everything my Swarm sees, but it seems a nice aesthetic touch. With just a mental command, the couch I had sat down on reclined and a foot rest came up, like a giant elongated Lazy Boy Recliner.

Grinning, I took a moment to just sink into the cushions and relax. Other than being bundled up in a pile of warm bodies, this is the first touch of human comfort I've had since this whole adventure began, and I can't help but take a moment to revel in it.

Still relaxed, I gave the order for my ship to cloak and take us back into orbit around Pandora. Flicking a glance towards the human ship, The ISV Venture Star, floating in orbit next to us, I wondered if I shouldn't name my Leviathan now that it's a proper ship? Not that it wasn't before, but it just seems appropriate. Several names come to mind of ships I'd named in the past in my imagination, but that wouldn't work since those names apply to those ships. Not this one.

Casting my mind about, it's not hard to come up with a designation for the ship. Considering its function as a Mobile Hive, it'll be a Leviathan Class Zerg Carrier. Now just what to call it? The first flagship of the Zerg… a grin crosses my mind as a few names cross my mind, namely White Base and The Enterprise. No, I want something unique to match a unique ship. Let's not rip off already existing ships.

Let's see… Terras? No, sounds like terrace. Why would a ship be named after earth and sound like a patio anyway? Maybe I could name it after Minecraftia somehow… Minas… Menith… now it just sounds like something from Lord of the Rings… what about naming it after one of the old Zerg? I always thought the name Daggoth was kinda cool, and the original Daggoth was the original Overmind's right hand and most powerful Cerebrate. Not to mention Daggoth's Tiamat Brood was not only the largest, the most powerful, and the one charged to protect the Overmind itself… he had Hunter Killers. Any mission from the original Starcraft game where I had Hunter Killers available from Daggoth, I knew they'd end up mowing down any and all resistance, and I never lost a single one. Those things were so bad ass…

That settles it. From now on my ship will be known as The Daggoth. The Leviathan Class Zerg Carrier, The Daggoth. Speaking of Leviathan class, I turned my attention to the other Leviathans in the swarm, as well as the Hives, and what I did to the creep in the Daggoth. I sent out a mass order, and my Queen's Leviathan's changed appearance, though there color scheme's are solid white until my Queens see fit to change it. As for my Creep, I've now changed it to take the properties of whatever it covers at the time it's covered, though it'll still glow. The Testificates of Minecraftia now have their plants back, only they'll still be just as filling as the Creep was. As for the Hives, I kinda made them look like a cross between gleaming white Cathedrals and Alteran city ships, such as Atlantis, which will be appropriate once I find a way to let my Hives fly.

Tack onto that that all spots of Creep that don't have anything on them now grow replicas of the Pandoran/Minecraftia/Elven forest I made inside my ship, and the barren rocks and moons are starting to look downright colorful and develop their own atmospheres. "Brilliant…" I whispered to myself, looking over it all. My new Swarm. No longer do the buildings look like exposed organs. I'm particularly glad of the new appearance of the Evolution Chamber, now that it no longer looks like a turd with a growth on it, but rather a nice white pyramid with gold trim and reflective glass sides. The Hives still have those tusks though they look like white crystal spires now.

For the rest of the buildings, I chose designs similar to that of Protoss and Alteran architecture. Most of the units I left alone though, until I can give more thought on their appearance. I did change the Mutalisks though so now they no longer look like flying curled worms with dragon wings. They now look like white Protoss Scout ships crossed over with Terran Vikings in that they can now turn into a walker form to allow the ability to land, and Overlords now look like a heavily altered Protoss Shuttle with crystal spikes fluidly flowing behind it like a jelly fish. Larvae I also heavily altered to that of a self propelled seed, with all its mass concentrated into a crystal about the size of an acorn, allowing it to simply fly with the Mind Over Matter ability. I did something similar with the Banelings, making them slightly larger, and colored green rather than white.

As for the rest of the Zerg, other than giving them the appearance of wearing armor that can change color based on what the Zerg happens to be doing, I left them alone. Once I'd finished, I gave a start at how much time had passed. Won't be long now until 1200 hours and it's time to make my first official appearance among the humans of Pandora. Sweeping my gaze over the lot of the Swarm, I couldn't help but smile. The Zerg are truly mine now. You would barely recognize any of them as the harbingers of death that they once were. Taking a half dozen Hydralisks with me, all gleaming in their white armor, looking similar to the Sengheli of the Convent, I waited until the time is right, then teleported down to the base.

-END CHAPTER-

Overmind mana – 2500/2500

Real Estate:

7 Planets

14 Moons

0 Satellites

Zerg Sentients:

1 Overmind

6 Queens

Races Met:

Testificates – Vassal/Friendly

Eywa – Vassal/Friendly

Humans (Avatar) – Neutral/Neutral


	29. Zerg Information Sheet Ver 4

Overmind Lvl 4

Health – 400/400

Mana – 12500/12500

Abilities:

Physical:

Spawn Hive (200 Mana) – Grows a Zerg Lair at your current location (12 hours)

Burrow (0 Mana) – Go underground; unable to move; can only be detected by sensors

Burrow Move (0 Mana) – Ability to move underground when burrowed

Transfusion (50 Mana) – Instantly transfer 125 health to biological unit or structure

Shapeshift (0 Mana) – Take on the appearance of any target similar in size

Adamantium Armor (Passive) – All physical type damage is blocked 100%

Photosynthesis (Passive) – Ability to obtain partial sustance from light sources

Psionic:

PSI Assault (1 Mana) – Casts a focused PSI attack at one enemy

PSI Blast (10 Mana) – Fires a focused ball of PSI energy at a single enemy

PSI Storm (50+ Mana) – Casts a localized storm of PSI energy

Flight: Mind Over Matter (0 Mana) – Can propel yourself using only your mind, limited only by the mind

PSI Guantlet Lvl 3 (Passive) – Mana Above 0; Strength increased by factor of 30

PSI Armor Lvl 3 (Passive) – Mana Above 0; All attacks do 75% less damage

PSI Sensor (Passive) – Mana Above 0; Able to detect cloaked, burrowed, and hallucinated units

Magic:

Exploding Fireball (5 Mana) – Explodes on contact, not affected by gravity, spreads flame, deflected by opposing opposite force

Fire Charge (2 Mana) – Shoots rapid balls of fire in three round bursts after each charge

Self Combustion (1 Mana per second) – Wrap yourself in flames spontaneously

Lightning Lvl 3 (0 Mana) – Can cast a lightning bolt into any location, even without sky

Animation (10 Mana) - Give inananimate objects a limited form of life; enslaved

Reanimation (15 Mana) – Give limited life to the biological deceased; enslaved

Teleport Lvl 3 (0 Mana) – Can teleport any distance, into any solid, liquid, gas, or plasma, so long as you've been to the location before

Invisibility Lvl 3 (0 Mana) – Can become undetectable to any source, can choose to reveal yourself to individual sources

Flight: Flame Propulsion (1 Mana per second) – Fly using the thrust of conjured flame

Fire Immunity (Passive) – Mana above 0; 100% immune to heat, fire, lava, etc.

Celestial:

Creation Lvl 1 (500 Mana) - Able to build anything with your mind you already know how to build manually; size limited to ten times your own size

Adaptive Strength (Passive) – Base strength is set automatically to allow the ability to lift and throw any weight

Incorporeal (Passive) – Take on a non physical state automatically in reaction to any danger

True Sight (Passive) – Able to see through any limitation to vision (ie. Lack of light, solid matter)

Evolution Milestones

Level 1 – 0 mana

Level 2 – 500,000 mana

Level 3 – 500,000,000 mana

Level 4 – 500,000,000,000 mana

Level 5 – 500,000,000,000,000 mana

Evolution Levels

Level 1 – Hatchery, Extractor, Spawning Pool, Larvae, Drone, Overlord, Zergling, Queen

Level 2 – Lair, Spine Crawler, Spore Crawler, Baneling Nest, Roach Warren, Hydralisk Den, Baneling, Roach, Hydralisk, Lurker, Overseer

Level 3 – Hive, Nydus Network, Spire, Infestation Pit, infestors, nydus worms, mutalisks, corruptors, guardians, scourge

Level 4 – Ultralisk Den, Greater spire, Defiler Mound, Nydus Canal, Ultralisk, Defiler, Leviathans

Level 5 – Cerebrates, Behemoths, all specialty Zerg strains ie. Hunter Killers, Devouring Ones, Torusque

Buildings

Hatchery – 400 mana – 12 hour build

Extractor – 125 mana – 30 min build

Spawning Pool – 150 mana – 30 min build

Lair – 500 mana – 12 hour build

Evolution Chamber – 75 mana – 30 min build

Spine Crawler – 100 mana – 20 min build

Spore Crawler – 75 mana – 20 min build

Baneling Nest – 300 mana – 1 hour build

Roach Warren – 300 mana – 1 hour build

Hydralisk Den – 300 mana – 1 hour build

Infestation Pit – 200 mana – 1 hour build

Nydus Network – 350 mana – 2 hour build

Spire – 350 mana – 2 hour build

Greater Spire – 250 mana – 2 hour build

Defiler Mound – 200 mana – 1 hour build

Nydus Canal – 150 mana – 30 min build

Ultralisk Cavern – 350 mana – 2 hour build

Units

Larvae – 1 min autobuild

Drone – 25 mana – 10 min build – 1 support

Overlord – 100 mana – 10 min build - +5 support

Zergling – 25 mana – 10 min build - .5 support

Queen – 200 mana – 20 min build – 2 support

Baneling – 50 mana – 10 min build – 1 support

Roach – 100 mana – 15 min build – 2 support

Hydralisk – 150 mana – 15 min build – 2 support

Lurker – 150 mana – 15 min build – 2 support

Overseer – 100 mana – 15 min build +5 support

Nydus worm – 200 mana – 15 min build – 0 support

Mutalisk – 200 mana – 20 min build – 2 support

Corruptor – 250 mana – 25 min build – 2 support

Guardian – 250 mana – 25 min build – 2 support

Scourge – 100 mana – 20 min build - .5 support

Ultralisk – 500 mana – 30 min build – 6 support

Defiler – 200 mana – 20 min build – 2 support

Leviathan – 2000 mana – 48 hour build – +5 suppor

Immediate Evolution Checklist

Give Hydralisks and hives automatic fire for spines

Long term Evolution Checklist

Make Buildings fly via Overlord flight

Make Buildings Burrow like the Zerg units do

Figure out an actual biological way to apply Operation Cwal to the Swarm

Apply seed growth from tree to Swarm to replace larvae growth

**Daily Mana Income Formula**

182,268,340/550=331,396 Lairs and Dronesx550=182,267,800

Total Left=540

**Current Lair/Mana Ratio**

**Key** - 1 Lair = 500 Mana Income = 100 square blocks of creep; 1 square block of creep=20 mana income

382,429 Lairs = 182,768,300 Mana Income (interrupted creep)/191,214,500 (uninterrupted creep)

*Interrupted Creep is creep that is blocked by buildings and other obstacles.

*Uninterrupted Creep is creep that has optimum room to grow with no obstacles.

Total Hives Each Planet and its moons can Support

Minecraft System – 228,075,800,050 Hives: 114,037,900,025,000 Daily Mana

M1 – 225,000

M2 – 2,225,000

M3 – 7,500,000

Minecraftia – 65,850,050

M5 – 77,000,000,000

M6 – 76,000,000,000

M7 – 75,000,000,000

Overworld 6,000,000

Lvl 1 3,600,000

Lvl 2 6,000,000

Lvl 3 6,000,000

Lvl 4 6,000,000

Lvl 5 6,000,000

Lvl 6 6,000,000

Lvl 7 6,000,000

Lvl 8 6,000,000

Lvl 9 6,000,000

Underworld 6,000,000

Nether Interior 750000

Nether Shell - 750000

Aether 750000

Moon 50

**Notes on the Celestial Class Ability, Creation**

At level one, creation of base elements and physical states of matter (Solid, liquid, gas, and plasma) that occur naturally is available, with the ability to create substances that require the manipulation of said elements require knowledge of how to create said item manually. Size is limited to ten times your own, specifically related to mass rather than volume. For example, Adamantium is a naturally occurring solid that forms the shell between the Overworld and Underworld, and can be created. A pickaxe is not a naturally occurring substance, and thus requires knowing how to form said pickaxe from scratch. To simplify it more using Minecraft game rules, any substance that occurs naturally in the world can be created from scratch. Any item that requires the use of a crafting table, ie manufacturing, requires knowing how to create said item.

At level two, creation of base elements and physical states of matter that occur naturally and are manufactured are available. Size requirements for natural and manufactured items are removed. In addition, it is now possible to create new 'natural' substances so long as one can reason how they might exist. For instance, one could create Adamantium this way if it didn't exist before, if they knew every single property of it, ie how it's formed, it's subatomic structure, how it interacts with every other substance known, etc (Very similar to the element creator available in the Burning Sand Program). Another example, would be the creation of a new element power core small and powerful enough to power a fantasized ray gun. Upon creation of the natural substances needed for said ray gun to exist, Level two creation can be used to bring that ray gun into being.

At level three, creation of natural and manufactured substances have all limits removed. Specific knowledge of how an item or natural substance works and/or is manufactured is no longer required. You set the parameters. Reality will do the rest. Want a woman that can turn into a star, a giant ball of nuclear fusion, at will without changing size, appearance, or substance; just light level? (Source: Stardust) Bam! Done. Want to contemplate what life might be like as a rock? (Source: Galaxy Quest Deleted Scenes) Congratulations! You are now a living, thinking rock. Impossible? Yes. Do you care? Nope. XD Please note that having this ability does not automatically grant you omnipotence, omniscience, or perfection, three of the key ingredients required to be classified as a Diety AKA a God. Having phenomenal cosmic powers does not a God make. Now a Genie on the other hand…


End file.
